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LETTERS 



THE YOUNG 



FROM THE 



OLD WORLD 



NOTES OF TRAVEL 6*JtS 

BY / 

Mrs. D. L. Miller. 
II 



Mount Morris, III.: 

THE BRETHREN'S PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

1894. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, 

BY MRS. D. L. MILLER, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



JTBE LIBRARY] 

(OF CONGRESS 

WASHIMGTO^ 






To 

MY HUSBAND, 

Whose Helpful Words have Encouraged me in my Work, 

and to the 

, v YOUNG PEOPLE AND CHILDREN, 

Who Urged me Strongly 

to Write, 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICA TED. 



INTRODUCTION. 




! WO years ago the author of this charming little vol- 
ume happened in my office. I requested her to be 
seated, as I wanted to talk to her. I then told her 
that she had traveled much in this world, having visited 
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany and the Bible Lands; 
that she had seen and heard much that would be interesting 
for others to read about, and I wanted her to write a series 
of articles for the Young Disciple, giving in the simplest 
way possible the information gathered during her travels. 

"No, indeed," she quickly and positively replied. "I 
cannot do that." I told her I felt confident that she could 
prepare a number of articles, or letters, that, would prove 
exceedingly interesting and profitable reading, and that the 
people were anxious to read what a woman had to say 
about the Bible Lands, the people and their customs. Re- 
peating what she had said, -she added that during all her 
travels she had not made one note, that she would have to 
depend entirely upon memory, and felt sure that she could 
not do justice to the undertaking. I urged her to give it a 
trial. 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

After a few weeks she handed me two letters. I exam- 
ined them, and told her they were just what was desired, 
and that we would take as many more as she felt disposed 
to write. More than fifteen thousand readers of the Yotmg 
Disciple know the result. For months they were delighted 
with these letters, and even before they were completed in 
the paper the author received many communications urging 
her to bring them out in book form. Many mothers wrote 
her and urged that the book should be published, that it 
was greatly needed, and would be the means of accom- 
plishing much good among the children and young people. 
Even the children write sister Miller and insist upon her 
publishing her letters in a book. These requests became so 
urgent that the author finally decided to carefully revise 
the letters, write more fully on some points, and give the 
result of her labors in this neat little volume. We bespeak 
for it an extensive circulation, a careful reading and a wide 

field of usefulness. 

J. H. Moore. 
ML Morris, III., Sept. 25, Z8Q4. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Across the Atlantic. — The Aller. — Small Sleeping Rooms. — A Sin- 
gular Kitchen. — Last Farewell. — Seasickness. — Children on the 
Ship. — Four Little Boys. — Fog Horn. — The Lookout. — Icebergs. 
— A Little Sailor Boy. — Porpoises and Sea Gulls. — Taking on 
the Pilot. — Lights on the Other Shore. — Landing n 

CHAPTER II. 

Land. — Bremen. — On the Way to Denmark. — Copenhagen. — Relig- 
ion of Denmark. — Singing. — A Farmhouse. — Malmo. — Market 
Place in Sweden, — Limhamn. — Fishermen and Boats. — Beauti- 
ful Lakes of Sweden. — Children in Sweden and their Bows. — 
Pine Branches. — Mother and Babe. — A Meal along the Way. . . 3r 

CHAPTER III. 

Norway. — Kong Halfdan. — Fjords. — Hay Transfer. — Government 
Vessel. — Two Young Girls. — A Glacier. — The Captain's Kind- 
ness. — The Beautiful Picture. — Tromso. — A Floating Buoy. — 
Eider Ducks. — Lapp Family.— Reindeer. — Torghatten. — Fish. 
— The Trap for Salmon. — Hammerfest. — The White Polar Bear. 
— The Drunken Sailer. — Arctic Ocean. — Whaling Station. — The 
Little White Church. — Striking a Reef of Rocks 57 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Story of a German Boy. — The Priest. — Catholic Woman. — Corps 
of Singers. — My Singing Lesson. — Funeral Procession. — Chil- 
dren Playing. — Wooden Shoes.— Neatness of the German Chil- 
dren. — Their Politeness. — Cologne. — Its Cathedral. — Height of 
Towers. — Odd Costumes. — Art Gallery. — The Picture I Saw. . . 88 



Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

Calais. — English Channel Experience. — Reaching the Pier. — Going 
Ashore. — London. — The Fog. — Show Lights. — British Museum. 
— National Gallery. — The Tricky Monkey. — Westminster Ab- 
bey. — The Tower 103 

CHAPTER VI. 
Venice. — A Gondola. — The Pigeons.— Trieste. — Piraeus. — Athens. — 
Paul and Mars' Hill. — Sickness. — From Athens to Smyrna. — 
Man Overboard. — A Lesson of Unselfishness. — Smyrna. — A 
Cruel Father. — Ephesus. — ■ Paul's Missionary Journey. — The 
Vesta. — Beyrut. — Jaffa Landing 117 

CHAPTER VII. 
Jaffa. — The Careless Camel. — Bible Characters who lived in Jaffa. 
— Jonah's Temptation. — On the Way to the Holy City. — An 
Arab and his Plow.— Ramleh.— Lydda in the Distance.— Lep- 
rous People Begging. — Leprous People of Bible Times. — Camp- 
fire in the Cave. — Jerusalem. — Our Room. — Solomon's Disobe- 
dience. — Tower of David. — The Stubborn Donkey. — Mohamme- 
dan Cemetery. — Mount of Olives 145. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Bethany. — Bethlehem. — Rachel's Tomb. — The Shepherd Boy. — 
Ruth and Naomi. — Garden of Gethsemane. — Departure from 
Jerusalem. — Yosef. — Jericho Road. — ■ Ain-es-Sultan. — -Morning 
Call. — Donkey Boy. — Dead Sea. — Along the Banks of the Jor- 
dan. — John the Baptist. — Bad Roads 168 

CHAPTER IX. 
Strange Kind of Fuel. — The Village Oven. — Women's Work. — 
Fresh Bread. — The Little Baby. — Landmarks. — Bethel. — My 
Faithful Friend. — A Trying Time in the Saddle. — Sinjal 196 

CHAPTER X. 
Shiloh.— Jacob's Well. — Tomb of Joseph. — Shechem. — Samaria. — 
Gibeah. — Dothan in the Distance. — Fountain of Gideon. — Shu- 
nem. — Shunammite's Son. — Nain 205. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix 

CHAPTER XI. 

Riding into Nazareth. — Virgin's Fountain. — Tricky Horses. — Cana 
of Galilee. — Tiberias. — Story of Jesus and his Disciples. — Boat 
Ride on the Sea of Galilee. — Capernaum. — Mounting Horses. — 
Disappearance of the Dragoman. — A Serious Accident. — Lake 
Huleh. — Cesarea Philippi. — Mount Hermon.— Crossing the Riv- 
er Pharpar. — Damascus. — Via Recta. — Bible References to 
Courts. — Cup of Coffee. — Water Seller 218 

CHAPTER XII. 

Farewell to Damascus. — Ain Fijeh. — Quarrelsome Arabs. — Onward 
to Baalbek. — A Friendly Arab Family. — On the Mountains of 
Lebanon. — Baalbek. — Rejected Stone. — From Baalbek to Bey- 
rut. — My Horse John. — Homeward Bound 243 




CHAPTER I. 




Across the Atlantic. — The Alter. — Small Sleeping Rooms. — A Singular 
Kitchen. — Last Farewell. — Seasickness. — ■ Children on the Ship. — ■ 
Four Little Boys. — Fog Horn. — The Lookout. — Icebergs. — A Little 
Sailor Boy. — Porpoises and Sea Gulls. — Taking on the Pilot. — 
Lights on the Other Shore. — Landing. 

S a usual thing, boys and girls — and even older peo- 
^!jp^p pie — delight to hear about the ocean and the ves- 
sels which float upon it, and now I shall tell you 
what I know about the ocean and a voyage across it. 

August is said to be one of the best summer months 
for ocean travel, because there are not so many hard 
storms during that month. There is very little use in pay- 
ing attention to that saying, for the sea is just as liable to 
be rough and stormy one month as another. You know 
storms come up on land when we least expect them, and 
continue longer than we think they will? Well, just so it is 
on the ocean; so there is a possibility of having bad weath- 
er, go any month you will. 

For a starting point you may choose one of four har- 
bors, — Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia or New York. The 
largest steamers, however, sail from New York, and it was 
from there that we took our departure the first day of Au- 
gust, 1 89 1, at one o'clock P. M. The day was beautiful, 
just as clear as any August day you ever saw; so the hearts 



12 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

of the passengers were glad, for sunshine and mild weather 
were indications of a pleasant voyage, we thought. Pleas- 
ant weather on land, however, did not mean pleasant 
weather out at sea, as we found out later on. 

The name of our steamer was the Aller. It is not one 
of the very largest ships, but it did seem immense to us. 
We were quite anxious to have a good look at our new 
home, so we went aboard long before sailing time, and be- 
fore the rest of the passengers gathered together. In wan- 
dering around we saw narrow passageways and many very 
small rooms. In our houses at home we should have called 
them good sized closets, but in a steamship they were 
sleeping rooms, and plenty large enough — if only two per- 
sons occupied them. But it is a surprise to know that 
sometimes three and four persons must room together when 
there is a crowd. I am glad to say there was plenty of 
room on the Aller, and we were the only occupants of our 
stateroom. 

In each of the rooms there was a sofa covered with 
plush, a wash-stand and basin, and two beds. The beds 
were built against one side of the little room, one above the 
other, and the person who occupied the upper berth found 
it necessary to climb up a stepladder every time he retired. 
Every piece of furniture was fastened securely; there 
seemed to be no danger of their moving from place to place 
when the sea grew wild and the vessel tumbled about. 
Each room had a window in it almost as large as a dinner 
plate, and just as round. The glass was set in a heavy 
brass frame, and a large screw was used to fasten the win- 




The A Her. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 15 

dow. Not a drop of water could enter, no matter how high 
the waves rolled or how hard the water dashed against 
them. These windows are called portholes, and the little 
rooms are always known as staterooms. When a berth was 
spoken of we all knew it meant the bed. You see by this 
•that the most familiar things had a different name on board 
a ship. 

The floors of halls and staterooms were nicely carpeted, 
and we wondered how they could be kept looking so well. 
There was a beautifully furnished sitting room with carpet 
of velvet; heavy damask curtains, sofas of fine plush, and 
fine oil paintings decorated the sides and ceiling, painted 
there by a master hand. The comfort of the passengers 
seemed to have been studied well, for we saw there a beau- 
tiful piano and a library of books, all of which could be 
used by passengers when they felt so disposed. 

The dining room and kitchen we found in the center of 
the ship, and the kitchen in particular interested us very 
much, for we had often wondered how the cooking utensils 
were kept in place when the sea became very rough. The 
mystery was easily solved, for on looking around we saw 
many racks which held the pots, pans and kettles firmly in 
place. Not very far from the kitchen was the pantry. 
There we saw plenty of glassware, and many dishes of dif- 
ferent sizes, all nicely arranged in racks and fitting so tight 
that there seemed to be no chance for one of them to move 
from right to left. 

But the time for sailing was nearer than we had any 
idea it was, and further investigation seemed out of the 



l6 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

question; but before parting from our friends we decided 
that our floating home was neat and clean, and truly not an 
unpleasant place to spend the next ten days in. 

Passengers were arriving fast by this time, and trunk 
after trunk was placed in the hold of the ship by diligent 
ship hands. We watched the people as they came aboard 
one by one. Some faces were looking happy, and others 
again showed marks of sadness. I wondered why there 
was such a difference, but concluded that the sad-faced 
people realized what a three thousand mile journey by wa- 
ter meant, and felt that they might nevermore behold the 
faces of loved ones again. If such should have been their 
thoughts, is it any wonder they looked sad? 

All was hurry and confusion; the large bell rang, and 
"All ashore" was called out. Hurriedly friends bade each 
other good-bye, and those who were not to go with us 
made haste to leave the ship. The gang plank was re- 
moved, the ropes were untied, and slowly the ship Aller 
moved from the wharf. People who stood there waved 
handkerchiefs, and we watched them with our field glass 
until they seemed like mere specks in the distance. We 
were floating seaward, sure enough; and as the ship moved 
farther and farther from shore we continued standing on 
deck, wishing to see all we could of the land, for we knew 
many days would pass by when nothing but sky and water 
would be seen. In a very short time we were far from the 
noise and confusion, and not a strip of land was in sight; 
then, with tearful eyes, we left the deck and retired to our 
stateroom below. Our mind turned toward the sea and its 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 7 

dangers; visions of shipwrecks and collisions flitted back 
and forth before us; but trying hard to be brave, we cast 
such thoughts from our mind, consoling ourselves with the 
thought that millions of people had crossed the Atlantic 
safely, and perhaps we might be so blessed. Then, when 
we looked around and beheld the steamer with its immense 
engines and manned by such strong, hearty seamen, we 
could not help but feel that all would go well with us. So, 
after breathing a prayer for protection, we settled down to 
make the best of things, knowing the Lord to be our pro- 
tector and feeling sure he would watch over and care for us. 

The sea was not very rough and sailing was delightful. 
The ship rolled a little, but the passengers concluded the 
voyage would be a pleasant one. Ship acquaintances were 
soon made, our sitting places at table decided upon, and 
everything seemed to be in good running order, and we 
were as well fixed as it was possible to be while in the float- 
ing home. 

After getting out to sea, one must get used to the roll- 
ing motion of the ship, and for many it means to get sick. 
Now, possibly, you have heard of people getting seasick. 
Well, I know all about it myself, and can tell you that it is 
a very disagreeable ailment. No one ever dies of seasick- 
ness, physicians say; so it is more distressing than danger- 
ous. Many people, however, cross and recross the Atlantic 
without having unpleasant feelings in that direction; but, 
on the other hand, very many are unable to appear at meals 
regularly. You are not out at sea long until one by one 
passengers disappear. Some are missed but a day, while 



I 8 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

others do not put in an appearance during the journey. 
These last named never do get used to the uneasy, restless 
sea, and must therefore remain in their berths during the 
entire trip. Little boys and girls get very sick too, some- 
times, but as a rule they are not as apt to get seasick as 
older people. While I know all about the malady,, six days 
was the longest period of my affliction, and that occurred 
when in a hard storm a few years ago. 

A sea voyage has a tendency to make one feel sad. 
You realize how great the force of water is and what a mere 
speck a human being is; each dash of the waves against the 
ship's sides brings you face to face with the fact that in a 
twinkling — if the Lord willed — the ship and all on board 
could be swept from the face of the water and their burial 
place be the bottom of the ocean. Some passengers bury 
their sad feelings in the wine cup and at the card table, 
while others go to the Lord in prayer. Which of these two 
ways do you consider to be the better one? The Lord 
does not like a drunkard, and you know drunkards cannot 
enter the kingdom of heaven. I hope you may all learn to 
love the Lord in youth, and may you never be known to 
drink strong beverage's, or be found playing cards and gam- 
bling. Remember that all those who play cards and drink 
strong drink in youth usually continue it when they become 
men and women; for bad habits formed in youth are hard 
to overcome even in old age. 

A great many children of all ages cross the Atlantic 
yearly with their parents, and some of them are very, very 
young, even tiny little babies with great long dresses. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 19 

These little ones, however, are never seen on deck, as a 
short time on deck would doubtless chill them completely 
and cause a spell of colic to follow shortly after. 

The children who are old enough to run around have a 
delightful time playing on deck, and the nurse who cares 
for them has a hard time to keep them from getting hurt. 
The ship gives such heavy lurches that many times grown 
people find it a difficult matter to keep upon their feet. 

Boys and girls as a rule enjoy a sea voyage immensely 
if they keep well, and not any of the passengers seemed 
more happy than they. When they were tumbled over by 
a lurch of the ship, it seemed like great fun, and jumping 
up they ran away laughing harder than ever. 

There were four little boys belonging to two different 
families on board the Aller, and those little fellows attract- 
ed the attention of the passengers greatly. Two brothers 
were good, and two were naughty. The last named knew 
how to act ugly and be rude and boisterous; they quarreled 
with each other, and even spoke unkindly to their mamma, 
and, for that matter, to everybody else. It was plain that 
those boys had been spoiled at home, and that being the 
case nothing better need be expected of them when away 
from home. The people on board that steamer pronounced 
them both little nuisances, and wished they were at home; 
for how could they think of spending ten days in company 
with such children? But there was no help for it; so we all 
endured the trial. Their papa was one of the men who 
drank and gambled, and the mamma did not seem strong 
enough to manage such tough little fellows alone. The 



20 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

other two were quiet, innocent little boys, and when spoken 
to were sure to reply in a gentlemanly manner. Those who 
had charge of the two last n^med children were seen to pay 
a great deal of attention to t iem; and will you be surprised 
when I tell you that even t T ie passengers took pleasure in 
talking to those good littie boys? 

While writing this I wonder how many of you are like 
these little ones I am writing about. Well, I hope you are 
all like the good children, for I cannot bear to think of one 
of you as being rude and unkind. Do you want to be loved 
by those around you? Then be kind, loving, thoughtful 
children. You must not speak cross to mamma and papa;; 
no, no; nor to grandpapa and grandma either. Don't say,, 
"I won't," when asked to do a little favor, but rather run 
quickly, saying, "I will do anything you ask of me." 

Did you ever think of how the Lord keeps a strict ac- 
count of all we do and say? Well, he does, and it is writ- 
ten in a book, and then some day that book will be opened,, 
and all the ugly things we have said and done will be read 
out. Just think how it will sound. Children, let us re- 
member that the better we behave ourselves, the fewer will 
be the evil deeds recorded; and then let us remember, too,, 
that the Lord loves dutiful children. 

Have you ever heard of "fog at sea"? Well, some- 
times it becomes very dense and you can scarcely see the 
full length of the ship. Seamen dread fog more than 
storms. It is then that the captain's face lengthens and his 
seat at table is vacant. There is great danger of collisions, 
for ships get nearer each other then, because they cannot 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 21 

see ahead. There is greater danger in going in and out of 
port when fog is dense, and many times have we read of 
steamers running into each ot.ier just as they were getting 
near to the stopping place. Such an occurrence usually 
means a great loss of life, for tnere is seldom time enough 
to save the unfortunate ones. The speed of a vessel should 
always be slackened when it is in a fog; but I am sorry to 
say that many of the captains are careless, as much so as 
engineers on our trains; they rush along anxious to make 
quick time, and if possible to gain port before ships of an- 
other line do. Many times they do gain port first, but it is 
the port of death; and we are made to think that the loss of 
life is a high price to pay for quick time. 

We have been in fog a great many times. Once we 
were enveloped in it five days and five nights. All steam- 
ers sound the fog horn, and every few minutes during that 
time the disagreeable sound was heard. They gave it as a 
warning to other vessels, that they might keep away from 
them, thereby avoiding collisions. 

There are always men on the lookout for danger. In a 
box way up in the rigging of the ship two men stand 
watching day and night, no difference how bad the weather 
is. Several men take their turn in watching, thus giving 
each one an opportunity to rest. If at any time there 
seems to be a suspicious object in their line of travel, the 
man calls out in loud tones, "Danger ahead." Sometimes 
the object seen proves to be a wreck, and if a signal of dan- 
ger is seen, all haste is made to go to the rescue of those on 
board, and many lives are saved in that way. The box in 



22 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

which those men stand is called the "lookout box," and 
from it is called the hour of day. I remember so well of 
hearing them call the midnight hour time and again. It 
was called thus, "Twelve o'clock"; and then, "All is well." 
O what a satisfaction it always was to know that all was 
well; then after that call I was sure to fall into a sweet 
sleep, only to awaken at the dawn of another day. 

Have you ever heard of an iceberg? Well, they are 
great mountains of floating ice which come down from 
Greenland, Spitzbergen, and other polar lands. Sometimes 
they appear right in a ship's course, and are not always 
seen by the naked eye. They float along for miles and 
miles under water, making it rather uncertain how close a 
ship is getting to them. Many icebergs, however, tower 
high above the water, and an account has been given of one 
seen a few years ago which was two and one-half miles 
long, two and one-fifth miles wide, and one hundred and 
fifty-three feet high. It is said that many million tons of 
ice were in that iceberg. When such an obstacle is seen 
there is cause for alarm, and well may the men on the look- 
out call, "Danger ahead! " 

When the weather was favorable we sat on deck every 
day; and while sitting there we noticed a sailor go to the 
railing of the steamer with a canvas pail. We wondered 
what he intended doing, and so watched. He first fastened 
a long rope to the pail, then threw it overboard, and 
after it had floated about in the water a while he drew it to- 
ward him, lifting the pail over the railing brimful of water 
and immediately after thrusting a thermometer into it. We 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 23 

knew by that time that the sailor was testing the tempera- 
ture of the water. He examined very closely how many 
degrees cold it was, then reported the result to the captain. 
When the water is many degrees colder than common -it is 
quite possible that an iceberg is not far distant, so the 
ship's course is changed and possibly a wreck avoided. 
There seems to be no end of reasons why a man should be 
stationed to watch for danger day and night. If a lookout 
man could tell us the number of times he was the means of 
saving people from perishing by being the first to see the 
signal of distress, no doubt we should be surprised. Ships 
meet with accidents of different kinds. Sometimes we read 
of them burning up, and before help can reach them all on 
board are lost. How sad that seems. Think' of the heart- 
ache of friends at home when the time for their return is at 
hand and they do not come. 

The sailor's life is a hard one, and yet it is said he is 
not happy when off duty long at a time. Have you ever 
heard him called the "jolly sailor boy"? I have wondered 
why people speak of them as being jolly. ^To me they are 
a sad-faced set of men, and out at sea I never saw one of 
them smile; sometimes I wondered whether they knew how 
to. Perhaps all their smiling is engaged in when on land, 
where they get beer and strong drink. 

Satan finds work for idle hands to do, and the captain 
is aware of that fact, so he manages to keep all hands busy 
when on a voyage, except during their hours of rest. You 
see if everybody is busy working or studying there is no 
time to plan naughty things, and Satan will soon find there 



24 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

is no chance for him. You would be surprised to know 
how many boys are learning to be sailors. Some of them 
on the Aller seemed not over twelve years of age. Their 
work is not of the hardest kind, still it is much harder than 
many of you are used to doing. It matters not how cold or 
rainy the weather, the little sailor boys, as well as the big 
sailors, must be on hand when duty demands them. It was 
no uncommon sight to see the little fellows out in stormy 
weather, and their hands almost stiff with cold. There was 
one boy who seemed to be on deck the greater part of the 
time. He was always armed with a broom, and he used it 
too; every little piece of paper, and every bit of dirt re- 
ceived his immediate attention, and with a steady sweep of 
the broom he sent them out to sea. These boys never 
talked with the passengers, but were polite when spoken to. 
No idling is allowed on shipboard, so the little fellows 
were busy and always on the move. Perhaps they would 
have enjoyed a good romp as well as any of you; but that 
was out of the question. 

Sitting on deck is one of the pastimes of an ocean voy- 
age. If a passenger seemed at all inclined to stay in the 
stateroom day after day when he was well and the weather 
was fine, you soon heard some, one say, " Better stay on 
deck." The air of a stateroom is not fresh and bracing, 
and after having been on deck a few hours one has a dis- 
like to stay in closer quarters. There are deck chairs to sit 
upon. Any person paying one dollar extra has the privi- 
lege of using one during the voyage. Sea air is usually a 
damp, cold air which makes it necessary to have heavy 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 25 

wraps and a good thick steamer rug to throw over the 
knees, that you may keep comfortable. 

The first four or five days of an ocean voyage pass very 
slowly, for you remember there is nothing to be seen but 
sky and water. There was a strong desire on the part of 
the people to see a ship, and if some one should call out, 
"Oh, there's a sail!" all eyes were turned toward the dark 
object in the distance, and with the help of a field glass the 
outline of a vessel could be plainly seen. By and by it was 
in full view, and the children were heard to say, "Let me 
see too." You would be surprised to know for how long a 
time that ship is the subject of conversation. They wonder 
what her name is and to what port she is bound; whether 
she is a passenger steamer or carries freight alone. Pas- 
sengers on a steamer are easily entertained, and no object 
is passed by unseen, for the most of them are on the watch. 

By this time you can imagine us to be pretty well out 
at sea, and now the sight of a vessel is no uncQmmon occur- 
rence. A sailing vessel, with her sails all filled with wind, 
was a beautiful sight, and scarcely a day passed without 
seeing one or more of them. Many, many years ago steam- 
ships were unknown, and a voyage across the Atlantic was 
not accomplished in as short a period of time as in these 
days. You know that when a vessel depends upon wind to 
move it along there is danger of its progress being hin- 
dered, for sometimes the wind is from the contrary direc- 
tion. 

Each day brought with it something new which amused 
the passengers. One day we found ourselves standing at 



26 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

the railing of the ship watching porpoises as they rushed 
along in the water below. Porpoises are of a sociable 
turn, and are seen swimming in schools close by the ves- 
sel's side. Their color is a dark gray, or almost black, and 
the under side of them approaches a pure white; their 
length when full grown is five feet or more. There was a 
time when the meat of porpoises was eaten and considered 
good; but now they are rarely if ever eaten; the blubber or 
fat alone is used for the oil which it contains. They are 
great fellows to spring up out of the water, and it is then 
that their full length and color are seen. That action 
greatly amused the children, and they called out, "O, look 
at the fish; just look at them!" And then the merry peals 
of laughter sounded throughout the ship. We never knew 
how long a time the porpoises traveled with us, for stand- 
ing became tiresome, and one by one we turned away, leav- 
ing them without an admirer. 

Sea gulls began flying about the ship by this time, and 
the indications were that land was not very far distant. 
How pleased we were to see them, and when land was men- 
tioned our hearts swelled with joy. The gull is a web- 
footed sea fowl with long, narrow wings and straight beak, 
hooked at the tip. Occasionally you see some that are 
gray in color, but the most of them are all white. They 
feed upon fish, yet very willingly do they eat the scraps 
which the cooks throw to them. 

Did you ever go fishing? Well, I'm very sure you had 
more trouble to catch fish than those gulls had. They 
would not be bothered with hook and line, and neither 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 2J 

would you if it were possible for you to catch fish as they 
do. While flying above the water a sharp lookout is kept 
for fish below, and when one is seen they dart down upon 
it; and the next instant it is theirs. You would be sur- 
prised to see with what ease and grace they ride upon the 
waves, seemingly resting as comfortably as we who were 
upon the ship sitting in steamer chairs. We imagined they 
were tired, and that sitting on a wave was their method of 
resting, and a sort of pastime for them. 

One of the great events of a sea voyage is the taking 
on of a pilot, and that occurs when a few days out from 
land. The pilot who brings a vessel across the Atlantic 
does not take it into the harbor, unless, as is sometimes the 
case, a pilot cannot be picked up because of the density of 
the fog. In that event the one who steers the ship across 
the ocean must take it into port; but he would rather not 
do so, for navigation is both difficult and dangerous the 
nearer one gets to land. The new pilot is taken aboard to 
superintend the steering of the vessel into port, and dur- 
ing the time he has charge of it the whole responsibility 
of getting her into port safely rests upon him. He knows 
where to locate the bad places, and makes a business of 
trying to escape them. Passengers watch faithfully for the 
appearance of the pilot boat, and a great deal of time is 
consumed in that way. 

The pilot boat is small, and has one white sail; on the 
sail is painted a number in black. For instance, number 
nine, or number thirteen is to be seen plainly. The passen- 
gers sometimes thought the pilot boat was slow in putting 



28 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

in an appearance. They were over-anxious, you see; but 
in due time the little boat was seen away off in the distance 
bobbing up and down with the waves; sometimes it was lost 
sight of entirely; only for a little time, however, for the 
next wave brought it in full view, and a chorus of voices 
called out, "There she is, almost here." How small it 
seemed compared with the Aller, and the waves tossed it 
about as though it were a mere feather. At times they al- 
most overwhelmed it; but the sturdy seamen had strong 
nerve, and they handled the little craft as though the task 
was a light one, still steering in the direction of the great 
Atlantic steamer. Can you imagine the boat coming near- 
er and nearer the Aller? I can; and in my mind I see the 
seamen throw the rope overboard to them; they catch it, 
are drawn closer and closer to the side of the great ship 
where the long rope ladder hangs. O how anxious we feel! 
What if he should make a misstep? And we turned away 
from the railing where the crowd stood watching. It took 
the man but a little while to climb to the top of the ladder, 
and before we were aware of it he was standing on deck. 
We looked at him with surprise, and he bade us the time 
of day. 

No sooner was the new pilot on deck than we found 
ourselves steaming away. Just how soon he commenced 
work we do not know; but we settled down quietly, feeling 
satisfied that if all was well with us only a few days would 
pass before our feet would tread upon dry land again. 

The sad faces took on a more cheerful look now, and 
peal after peal of laughter was heard. The piano was 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



2 9 



opened and lively music played; singing was engaged in, 
and indeed it seemed as though a new set of people had 
come forth. It was plainly to be seen that no one dreaded 
to reach land. The sea was rough, and the sky overcast 
with heavy clouds; but that was nothing new, for the whole 
ten days it was rainy, and the sun shone but little to cheer 
us on our way. 

There was a band of music on board the steamer which 
played several times each day. Sometimes they played on 
deck, and always while we were eating dinner. Not every- 
body enjoyed their music, but since it was the custom to 
have band music they had to submit. 

Sunday mornings we were always awakened by music 
which seemed in the distance; and the old familiar hymn of 
"Nearer, My God, to Thee," came to us seemingly from 
the far away. The sound of it never failed to bring tears to 
my eyes, for home loomed up before me, and I beheld 
loved ones gathered together for worship, singing songs of 
praise and thanksgiving. But the music passed away, and 
Sunday was spent just like all other days. Southampton, 
England, was reached, and there we unloaded some of our 
cargo. A great many passengers left and a few came 
aboard to go on to Bremen with us. Their journey seemed 
like a short one compared to the voyage which was just 
ending for the most of the passengers. 

Between ten and eleven o'clock one night land was 
sighted, and many lights could be plainly seen along the 
shore, although it was said they were twenty-five or thirty 
miles away. We stood on deck an hour or more watching 



30 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

those beacon lights, and the tears of joy flowed down our 
cheeks. While we looked at them the beautiful hymn of 
P. P. Bliss, "Let the Lower Lights be Burning," came to 
our mind, and quietly we sang it; and I thought of this pas- 
sage of Scripture, "Let your light so shine before men, that 
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father 
which is in heaven." And that night I realized what it 
meant for Christians to have their lamps trimmed and 
burning. We could not remain on deck longer, for the air 
was damp and chilly, so we retired to our stateroom feeling 
sure that on the morrow, if the Lord willed, our feet would 
again press mother earth. 

The next day was disagreeable indeed, but when the 
time to go ashore was announced no one murmured. 
America seemed far, far away now, and instead of traveling 
under the stars and stripes of our mother country hence- 
forth flags of other nations were to fly above us. Willingly 
did we journey to those foreign lands, so we made the best 
of the situation, deciding to see and learn all we could. 
There was a satisfaction in knowing that the Lord in whom 
we trusted would go with us in whatsoever land we jour- 
neyed. 




CHAPTER II. 




Land.— Bremen. — On the Way to Denmark. — Copenhagen. — Religion of 
Denmark. — Singing. — A Farmhouse. — ■ Malmo. '— Market Place in 
Sweden.— Limhamn. — Fishermen a?id Boats. — Beautiful Lakes of 
Sweden. — Children in Sweden and their Bows. — Pine Branches. — 
Mother and Babe. — A Meal along the Way. 



OW you may imagine us upon land, and what a 
change! The same sky with small patches of blue 
was above us, but the sea was all gone. Trees and 
grass never before looked more beautiful, and no doubt we 
appreciated the sight more because we had seen nothing- 
green for so many days. 

New sights and new scenes met our gaze, and, strangest 
of all, a new language was spoken; for you must remember 
we were upon German soil. 

After having the baggage examined, which is always 
necessary when going into a strange country, we passed 
from the custom house to the train which was in waiting for 
all steamer passengers; and just as we were about to enter 
the cars there was a downpour of rain. There was nothing 
pleasant in that, but we had long since learned that there 
was no use to murmur when the weather was bad; so we 
settled back in our seats and watched the water as it came 
pouring down. 



32 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

Between eight and nine o'clock that night we reached 
the city of Bremen. The depot was well lighted, and every 
one was enabled to see plainly where to go. Hotels were 
not scarce, for they are to be seen on all sides, so it took 
but a little time for us to find comfortable quarters. 

How strange everything seemed! There was no need 
of watchfulness now, lest a lurch of the ship would give us 
an unexpected seat upon the floor. No noise of machinery 
sounded in our ears, and there was no restless, uneasy sea. 
"Give me land," I said; and who is there who would not 
rather be on land than water? 

The next morning found us somewhat rested, and after 
eating a warm breakfast we planned for the rest of our 
journey. Time was precious, therefore it was out of the 
question for us to tarry long in Bremen; so as soon as pos- 
sible we took our departure for Denmark. 

Copenhagen was the first point aimed for, and we trav- 
eled northward, leaving Germany far behind. At Kiel we 
made our first stop, and there took a steamer crossing over 
to Korsor, which place we reached about seven o'clock 
next morning. A train was waiting to take all passengers 
on to Copenhagen, and about noon we had reached our 
journey's end. 

Denmark is not a very large country, therefore it takes 
but a short time to travel from Germany to the north end 
of it. There is a great deal of water around this little 
country, consequently the air is damp and chilly most of 
the time, and people who live there wear heavy woolen 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 33 

clothing all the year round. Even though it was the month 
of August, we were quite comfortable in warm clothing. 

We happened there just in time to have full benefit of 
the storms of wind and rain which are frequent during the 
months of July and August, and the changeable weather 
was in no wise agreeable to us. 

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark, and is there- 
fore a very large city. We spent several days with the 
brethren and sisters there, for you know that is one of our 
mission points. Copenhagen is situated on the Island of 
Seeland, and so is entirely surrounded by water. The 
streets are very clean and the houses quite nice looking. 
There are little lakes in different parts of the city, and of- 
ten the large white swans are seen swimming gracefully up- 
on them, and people throw pieces of bread far out into the 
water so that they may have a long distance to swim before 
getting the wet morsel. 

There were plenty of chances for sightseeing, and pal- 
aces, churches, hospitals, schools and museums were open 
to visitors special days in the week. There was not time to 
visit all of the above-named places, but we were sure that 
one week would be a short time to spend in the careful ex- 
amination of all relics which were on exhibition. 

The established religion of Denmark is Lutheran, but 
the Baptists and our Brethren are among the number who 
have regularly organized churches there. Instead of wor- 
shiping in fine large churches as do the Lutherans, they 
meet and worship in halls, for mission bands cannot afford 
to spend money to keep up large church edifices. Reli- 



34 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

gious privileges are many, and yet many of the inhabitants 
live in sin and wickedness, turning a deaf ear to the plead- 
ing voice of the ministers. 

Children who live in that large city do not have nice 
yards in which to play; but there are many very nice parks 
where they congregate every day and have the best kind of 
a time together. 

The people were very kind to us, and no matter what 
hour we called upon them they were sure to give us a cup 
of good hot coffee. I wondered whether the coffeepot was 
kept upon the stove all the time, for only a few minutes 
passed between the time we entered their home and the 
presentation of the cup of coffee. Sometimes chocolate 
was given, but it was necessary to refuse one or the other of 
the drinks, so we gave the preference to coffee. 

The Danes take great pleasure in singing, and I re- 
member well, when we sat up until the clock struck two in 
the morning, singing out of the Gospel Hymns, they sing- 
ing in Danish, and we singing in English. 

We had a strong desire to see something of country 
life, so journeyed through the greater part of Denmark, 
stopping in villages and visiting at farmhouses. It was our 
happy privilege to become acquainted with a great many 
people, and we found them as kind and hospitable as those 
living in the city. A few visitors in a family seemed not to 
discommode the housewife, for no extra pains were taken 
to prepare fine meals. Company fared the same as those of 
the family, and none seemed tired by their much serving. 



f 


Wk 


• 




MM jj| 





Danish Country Woman. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 37 

There was quite a company gathered together at one 
farmhouse, and we were among the number. When meal- 
time came not all of the people could be seated around the 
table, for it was too small, so eight of the number took 
places and the rest waited to eat at the second table. 
There was no nice white tablecloth to be seen, and not a 
fine display of nice dishes either; no silverware decorated 
that table, and, indeed, the whole house seemed void of an 
unnecessary thing. 

But I'm going to tell you about the meal, so will pass 
by a description of the house and its furniture. On the ta- 
ble were a plate of black bread, a small dish of butter, and 
two earthen dishes filled with milk. The dishes were 
placed at the ends of the table, so that four persons could 
have easy access to them when the clipping-in time came. 
There were knives and spoons, but not enough to go 
around. Now what was to be done? Well, they were used 
a while by some, then passed on to be used by those who 
had none. W 7 e were strangers in the company, therefore 
the favored ones, so had the happy privilege of having a 
spoon all to ourselves. Now they were not of silver, as 
you might suppose, but bone. They were short in the han- 
dle and large in the bowl. Just look at your mother's 
kitchen spoons and I think the size will correspond very 
well with the bone ones we used. 

Instead of having bread and milk, which most of the 
boys and girls like, we took the milk first, dipping into the 
earthen dish and placing the milk in the mouth spoonful by 
spoonful; and then we ate the bread afterward. Now that 



38 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

was no style of our own, for we followed the example of 
those around us, and the custom seemed indeed a very- 
strange one. When the slices of black bread were gone, 
and the dishes of milk emptied, all stopped eating and 
thanks were returned to the Father above who provides so 
liberally. After this all retired from the table. We were 
not made comfortable by sitting on sofas and easy chairs. 
Oh no; but instead of that we had the privilege of standing 
until those at the second table were through eating, and 
even then we had the pleasure of being seated upon narrow 
benches, or possibly on an uncomfortable chair. 

Those people had a novel way of/ cleaning the spoons 
used in eating. I noticed with astonishment that after each 
person had finished the milk, and needed the spoon no 
longer, he took the bowl of the spoon between the' thumb 
and fingers of the left hand, wiping it clean; after which the 
spoon was put away, to be used sometime in the future. 
Now, little girls, — you who do not fancy washing dishes, 
and especially spoons, — you must not adopt this method of 
cleaning them. But probably you will think about it as I 
do, — that the custom is not a nice one, and hardly worth 
following. 

Houses in the country are built low and rather long. 
One end of them is used as living apartments and the other 
end for horses, cows and chickens. The farmer need not 
go far when feeding-time comes; it is only necessary for him 
to walk through the kitchen, open a door and commence 
his work of feeding. The odor of the stable permeates the 
entire house, and there is no way of getting where it is not. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 39 

Now some people think living close to a barn is healthful; 
but I must confess it is disagreeable in the extreme to me, 
and I had a great desire to be far away from such a nui- 
sance. 

The language of the Danes is quite unlike that of the 
Germans, and we were not able to talk to the people whom 
we met, unless it were through an interpreter, and that 
made it necessary for us to have an English-speaking per- 
son with us almost all of the time. To be in a country 
where one does not understand the language is quite un- 
handy, and yet there are a great many people who travel all 
over Europe and speak but one language, the English. 
Again, you meet persons who speak seven or eight differ- 
ent languages fluently. 

There is a great deal to interest one while traveling 
through a strange country; but it is not well for us to write 
too much about one place, so we shall leave Denmark and 
go to Sweden. 

Since Copenhagen is built on an island, you will know 
it is wholly surrounded by water. If such be the case, it is 
utterly impossible for any one to leave there for Sweden 
without going aboard a steamer. The passage of water be- 
tween the two countries is called a sound, and every one 
knows it by the name of "The Sound." 

One bright, beautiful day, in company with some 
Brethren, we crossed over the sound to the seaport town of 
Malmo, Sweden. The steamer was very clean, and the wa- 
ter unusually smooth that morning; so- the ride of an hour 
and a half was a very enjoyable one. Malmo is only six- 



40 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

teen miles distant from Copenhagen, and when the day is 
clear the cities may be seen plainly when on the water. 

The languages of Sweden and Denmark seemed alike to 
us, yet the natives claim there is quite a difference. Be 
that as it may, the people of both countries talk together 
and understand each other without much trouble. Our 
time was limited, and hurriedly we took in the sights, 
spending a short time with those of like precious faith who 
lived in the city. The time spent with them was well 
spent, for we were received cordially by all. 

The cities of Europe are all very much alike; the hous- 
es are built in flats, having many families living under one 
roof. The streets are clean enough for footmen to walk 
upon, and there is no danger of even soiling the shoes. 
The store windows were tastefully arranged, being quite at- 
tractive to the passerby, and causing us to think that much 
time could be consumed in looking at the beautiful display 
of finery. 

The market place of a large city in the Old Country 
was always attractive to us, and if it was at all possible 
we aimed to take a stroll through it. We admired the 
tastefully arranged stands of vegetables, crisp and green. 
Fruit seemed to be plentiful that year, and apples, pears 
and plums all looked beautiful. Even the butter, eggs and 
cheese stands looked well, and you would be surprised to 
know how many different kinds of cheese were on sale. 
Not much time was spent in looking at meats, fish and 
fowls, for close by was a greater attraction, that of the 
stand filled with flowers. There we saw the pleasant faced 



42 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

little pansy, the beautiful carnation pinks, and the loveliest 
of all flowers — the rose. I think I never saw such beauties 
as were offered for sale in the Malmo market. My hus- 
band — who was very indulgent — kept me well supplied with 
them, and their fragrance was enjoyed by others as well as 
myself. 

Six miles distant from Malmo is a small village called 
Limhamn, and at that place there is a small church with a 
few members. We were requested to visit the members by 
way of encouragement; and as soon as the train was ready 
we started for that point. The ride was of short duration, 
yet very pleasant. Almost the entire distance the railroad 
track ran close to the water; so we had the pleasure of 
looking out upon the great body of water with its ships and 
sailboats. 

The village of Limhamn is the home of many fisher- 
men. About three o'clock in the afternoon they start out 
to fish. All night long they work hard, and in the morning 
often return with a very small catch. One time we looked 
out over the water and saw twenty boats of fishermen with 
sails well filled with wind. As a rule, those boats keep 
very close together, one following in the wake of the other. 
Sometimes the wind almost topples them over, but on they 
go, spinning along at a rapid rate. When the waves are 
lashed into fury by a storm many a little sailboat is turned 
over, and the boatman goes down, never to be seen again. 

In those northern countries fishing is quite a business, 
and whole families sometimes engage in it. The women 
have a hard time, for they do double duty, that of looking 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 43 

. after their families and then going to market day after day. 
After the husband returns in the early morning with his 
fish, the wife and all the children who are old enough arise 
and hasten to prepare them for market. As soon as fifty or 
one hundred fish have been made ready they are placed in 
a wheelbarrow, and the wife, after having changed her 
soiled dress for a clean one, trudges off to market, walking 
a mile or more with the heavy load. Where there are large 
families it takes many, many fish to pay for food and 
clothing, and it is therefore quite necessary that all should 
work. 

The life of a fisherman is hard indeed; constantly dan- 
gers surround him; yet he seems to enjoy life about as well 
as those who work on land. They are strong, hearty look- 
ing fellows, which you will notice by looking at the picture 
of the four weather-beaten faces before you. Do you see 
their heavy coats? And then just look at the odd looking 
hat. The rim, which extends over the back of the neck, is 
for protection against wind and storm. Perhaps if we were 
upon the water that rim would be turned around and used 
as a protection for our eyes instead of the neck. After all, 
each fisherman probably knows best what is for his individ- 
ual good, and no doubt the wind and stormy weather have 
taught him many good lessons on the preservation of 
health. 

The time spent at each stopping place was of short du- 
ration; so then we left the fishermen at Limhamn to toil on, 
and we traveled still farther north. 



44 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

Much of the country which we passed through was 
very rough looking, and yet there were parts of it which 
reminded us of northern Illinois, where we live. The 
greater part of Sweden is covered with forests of pine and 
fir trees, and the railroad ran through miles and miles of it, 
giving the passengers a splendid chance to see a great deal 
of country. There seemed scarcely an end to those beauti- 
ful trees, and we really grew tired looking at them for hours 
at a time. 

Sweden is noted for her many beautiful lakes. Some 
of them are quite large, and boats are seen upon them; but 
very many of them are small. We passed alternately for- 
ests and lakes, and we were always sure to see a forest after 
having passed a lake. Never before in my life had I seen 
as many beautiful lakes as we saw during that ride. 

Sometimes for miles and miles the ground was covered 
with heather, or ling. Its leaves are very small, and they 
are green all the year round. It bears very pretty little 
flowers; some are white and some are pink. They are not 
at all fragrant, but very pretty to look at. Heather is of no 
use to the farmer, and no doubt he would rather not have it 
cumber his ground. But the train comes to a halt, and we 
leave it, expecting to visit in the country, and thereby 
come in closer contact with the people. 

As a rule the Swedish people are religiously inclined, 
and they esteem it a great pleasure to have the story of Je- 
sus and his love told them. Many times I noticed the tears 
chase each other down their weather-beaten faces while the 
minister talked about the saints of old. Very willing and 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 47 

anxious were they for the Word of God; and I'm so glad to 
tell you it was given them in all of its purity. 

The women seemed sorrowful because I could not con- 
verse with them; and in turn I felt sorry not to be able to 
gratify their desire; but we got along nicely anyway. 
Their hearts seemed full of love for me, and they made it 
manifest by patting me upon the shoulder, squeezing my 
hand, and kissing me frequently. It was all they could do, 
and I did not object. You must remember these people 
lived on farms, were very poor, and knew nothing of the 
ways of the world as we know them. They were innocent, 
kind-hearted and good. 

I have often wished, since writing these little letters, 
that I could have talked with the children in those far-away 
countries. There might have been many things to tell 
which would have pleased you. But we are deprived of 
much pleasure as we pass through this world; and, since it 
cannot be otherwise, we must be satisfied. 

Children in Sweden are like > other children; they talk, 
laugh, and romp too. We longed to talk with them, but 
that being out of the question we undertook to make them 
understand us by making gestures, and that method was 
quite interesting. Now, children, whenever you are in a 
position where you cannot talk to those around you, just 
try my plan, and see how nicely you will get along. 

Children enjoy doing favors for those who are older 
than themselves; and how much they love to be praised for 
it! Now that brings to my mind the little Swedish girl who 
took great pleasure in gathering plums and bringing them 



48 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

to the house. After having sorted them, the largest and 
nicest ones were handed to me. In her language I thanked 
her, but that was all I was able to say. No doubt she 
wished I'd talk a little more to her; but, finding my list of 
words was very short, she concluded to do all the talking 
herself, so chattered away at a lively rate, not even waiting 
for an answer. I could do nothing but look and listen. 
We were very good friends anyway, and each talked to the 
other in her own native language, but neither understood a 
word that was spoken by the other. How would you like 
to live with people and not be able to talk with them? 
The home of my little friend was our home for at least two 
weeks, and before we bade them adieu I had wandered with 
her from orchard to barn, and from one neighbor's house to 
another; and when the heavy wind had shaken down the 
beautiful apples, together we picked them up. Going from 
place to place with the little girl helped me pass away 
many lonely hours, and I assure you that not many hours 
passed without my longing for the friends at home. Do 
you wonder then that so small a thing would give me 
pleasure? 

In Sweden the little girls— and women too — make such 
pretty little bows. Not as we bow in America; no, but with 
a very quick and graceful movement. There is a bending 
of the knee, and a dropping of the body. Old women, 
young women, and even tiny little girls, all bow exactly 
alike. It took quite an effort on my part to keep back the 
smile which wanted so much to come, and I'm sure you 
would have had the same feeling if you could have seen 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 49 

them. From infancy children are trained to have respect 
for older people, and it is taught them in such a way that 
the.y never forget it. They were taught to bow; that was a 
mark of courtesy and respect. Will you, my little readers, 
try to remember the training given at home, as do the chil- 
dren away across the ocean? 

I told you there were miles and miles of pine forests in 
Sweden, you remember? Well, physicians recommend 
persons who have weak lungs to take many, many rides 
through them, claiming that the pine odor is healing to the 
lungs. I do not know how much truth there is in the say- 
ing, for our lungs seemed all right; but I do know that a 
ride through the forests in a wagon is delightful, and worth 
taking. 

Pine branches are used quite profusely in that country 
for decorating both the inside and outside of houses on 
special occasions. One time we were expected at a certain 
country home, and great preparations had been made for 
our reception. The hostess did not bake fine cakes or kill 
chickens for us, either. Well, what did they do? Why, 
they took a jaunt to the forest, gathered evergreens — pine 
branches — ever so much of them, took them home, cut them 
up in many small pieces, and scattered them on the walk 
from the gate where we were to dismount up to the house, 
then almost covered the steps leading to the front door. 
Two beautiful young pine trees had been planted, tempora- 
rily, on either side of the steps, and indeed the old farm- 
house took on quite a pleasant appearance. In walking 
over the fresh-cut pine its odor came up around us, and was 



50 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

quite agreeable. Now don't you think those people were 
kind? Perhaps when I tell ) t ou that all of the work was 
done by women and children you will think we would be 
strange people not to feel pleased with such a reception. 
We enjoyed all, for we felt sure that love for the American 
wanderers prompted them to work so hard. 

Soon we shall leave this interesting country; but before 
we do so will call your attention to the picture of a Swed- 
ish mother and babe. Do'you notice the pleasant looking 
-faces of both parties? • Then observe closely the peculiar 
way of dressing. That woman doesn't need a baby car- 
riage to haul the little one in; no, indeed; she has some- 
thing better, for with the child sitting in the sling which 
hangs over the shoulder the mother's hands are free and 
she uses them to knit stockings for the rest of the family. 
That way of dressing is not altogether in vogue now, for 
fashion has gone ahead and the modest apparel like that of 
the woman in the picture is very seldom seen these days. 

We are admonished to love those who are of the same 
household of faith, and as the family with whom we stayed 
belonged to the same communion as ourselves, we had 
much love in our hearts for them. With tearful eyes the 
farewells were said, and we wondered whether the Lord in 
his goodness would permit all to meet again this side of 
the grave. 

Time passes swiftly, no matter where you are, at home 
or in a foreign land, so the allotted time for rest in Sweden 
had finally come to an end. There were many days of 




Swedish Mother and Child. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 53 

travel before us, and riding becomes quite tiresome when 
day aiter day is spent in foreign railway carriages. 

Our new-made friends were loath to have us leave, and 
farewell seemed a hard word for them to say. Several ac- 
companied us to the station, many of them walking in the 
hot sun f. distance of two or three miles. We took seats at 
the window of the car, and when the train passed out we 
looked back and saw them waving handkerchiefs until the 
distance widened between us and the flutter of white was no 
more visible. Waving the handkerchief after departing 
friends is a custom of the country, and at every station 
along the railroad it is seen. 

There are a number of things along the line of travel to 
interest tourists, if they are in the proper mood to be inter- 
ested. Many days of continued travel bring with them 
feelings of weariness; and when that is the case, beautiful 
scenery or odd customs of the people fail to attract atten- 
tion. The discomforts of foreign travel are many, and they 
often drive away the enthusiastic feelings one had in the 
beginning of a long journey. 

The guard of a train usually takes orders for meals 
which passengers expect to get along the road, and when 
you are not thinking of it he puts his head in at the window 
and asks who among the number desire dinner. A dispatch 
is sent, and the meal is ready by the time we reach the 
stopping place. 

You enter a nice, clean dining room, and there you see 
tables spread with very white tablecloths. Here and there 
upon the tables are stacks of soup plates, dinner plates and 



54 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

small dessert plates, and knives, forks and spoons close by 
them; dishes of boiled salmon with sauce, hot potatoes, 
boiled beef and cauliflower with cream sauce; then, too, ev- 
er so many kinds of cheese, and some smoked meats. 

We followed the example of the rest of the people, and 
forthwith helped ourselves to a plate, knife, fork and 
spoon. No waiters looked after our wants, so each person 
looked after himself, being careful not to push or elbow his 
neighbor. Everybody was orderly, and the dinner was 
splendid. Two women had the oversight of the dining 
room, but they sat off at one side, behind a little table, and 
did not leave their seats until paying time came, when they 
took the money and made the change. 

A servant appeared and took away each plate when it 
was needed no more, and when time for the dessert had 
come, she removed the fish, meat and vegetable dishes. 
There was no tarrying one for the other, but as each person 
desired a dessert he arose, took a plate and helped himself 
to the jellied raspberry juice, or tapioca pudding; and as a 
dressing for them delicious whipped cream, poured from a 
large glass pitcher, was used. After paying the bill, each 
one passed out to the train, which started soon after. 




8 




CHAPTER III. 




Norway. — Kong Halfdan. — Fjords. — Hay Transfer. — Govern?ne?it Ves- 
sel. — Two Young Girls. — A Glacier. — The Captains Kindness. — 
The Beautiful Picture. — Tromso. — A Floating Buoy. — Eider Ducks. 
— Lapp Family. — Reindeer. — Torghatten. — Fish. — ■ The Trap for 
Sahnon. — Hammerfcst.-- The White Polar Bear. — The Drunken 
Sailor. — Arctic Ocean. — Whaling Station. — The Little White 
Church. — Striking a Reef of Rocks. 

i 

^EFORE a tourist leaves home the mind is usually- 
settled upon certain places to be visited in the Old 
World. We think it a very good plan, for then the 
history of those special points may be looked up and the 
visit made more satisfactory; for the more knowledge one 
has of noted historical places, the more pleasing is the visit. 
Norway was the country we had decided to visit, and 
"The Land of the Midnight Sun" was the point aimed for. 
So the twentieth day of August found us two in the city of 
Throndhjem, once the capital of Norway. Instead of rail- 
way coaches, passage was taken on a steamer which was 
then at the pier puffing heavy black smoke from the 
smokestack. 

The sailors were busily engaged in storing away the 
cargo, and there was every indication that in a few hours 
she would steam out of port. Upon inquiry we found that 
steamers had quit running to that far northern point; the 



58 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

season being over, there would be no more chance for us 
that year. That information was quite disappointing, for 
we had looked- forward with a great deal of pleasure to the 
time when we should look upon the bright sun shining at 
midnight. The fault seemed to be our own, for we had not 
started north soon enough. We concluded to go as far as 
the steamer went, rather than turn back; so the tickets 
were purchased and a stateroom procured on board the 
steamer Kong Halfdan. 

The name seemed odd indeed, and you cannot imagine 
how very small the ship did seem compared to the monsters 
on the Atlantic. I did wish it were larger, though; but 
since it was not in my power to change its size I just tried 
to appear unconcerned, and that wasn't a very easy task. 
This vessel belonged to the government, and in the season 
she made regular trips between Throndhjem and North 
Cape. As the steamer was not to leave her pier for an 
hour or more, we decided to walk around the city and thus 
escape the noise and confusion of loading, which was in full 
operation all around. Walking seemed to be a tiresome 
piece of work that morning, and we were glad to return and 
take a seat upon deck, where we remained until sailing 
time. 

The day was cloudy, with a stiff sea breeze blowing 
and we concluded a good shaking up was in store for us; 
perhaps a spell of seasickness in the bargain. The captain 
said, "Nobody ever gets seasick on the fjords of Norway"; 
but I decided to wait and see. The water in the bay_was 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 59 

rough, and the ship inclined to roll a little, so the outlook 
did not seem very flattering. 

The time for sailing came, and at twelve o'clock, noon, 
the anchor was drawn up, and quickly we left the pier. I 
sat on deck but a short time, for the rocking motion of the 
ship gave my stomach an unsettled feeling; so, as soon as 
possible, I withdrew to my stateroom, and in a short time 
thereafter my head was upon a pillow, where the sight of 
water was entirely shut off. 

After having gone a few miles, we were agreeably sur- 
prised at finding a calm, beautiful sea. The clouds passed 
away, and the sun in all its splendor shone down upon us, 
and each day, from that time on, the sun cheered our way. 
We were out for a twelve days' cruise along the rocky coast 
of Norway, and you can imagine it was pleasing to have 
fine weather and a smooth sea. 

There were not many first cabin passengers on board 
the Kong Halfdan, and it so happened that I was the only 
lady; but that which disturbed me the most was to know 
that among them all we were the only two who were 
English-speaking. The captain, who was a very nice man 
and extremely kind to us, talked English quite well, so ev- 
ery once in a while we held a conversation with him. 

The captain and first and second mate ate at the same 
table with the passengers. It was a long, narrow table and 
accommodated sixteen people. A lounge ran the full 
length of one side of it, while chairs were used on the other 
side. Each one had his seat, and at every meal we sat in 
the same places. The captain was seated to the right and 



60 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

my husband to the left of me, and from there down others 
sat; but we had the honor of being seated on the lounge, 
and near to the captain. 

The fjords of Norway are known as arms of the sea, 
they being a part of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Some 
of the fjords are narrow, but others are quite wide. Large 
vessels float upon them, for the water is very, very deep. 

The Norwegians are a thrifty people, and their little 
homes on the green hillside along the fjords were very in- 
viting as we passed them one by one. Some were near 
enough for us to see the chickens picking and scratching in 
the yard, and gladly would we have exchanged our state- 
room on the steamer for a cozy room in a cottage. 

The steamer had regular stopping places called sta- 
tions along the line, and at those places they took on pas- 
sengers and cargo. There was no chance to cast anchor 
close to shore, for rocks run far out into the water. Pas- 
sengers and freight were always taken off in rowboats. 
Mountains seemed to hem us in, and the splendid scenery 
was a surprise to us; yet it proved to be quite a monoto- 
nous ride and we were anxious for a change. 

Green fields were scarcely ever seen, but small patches 
of green were noticed here and there on the sides of the 
mountains. I wondered what the Norwegians would say if 
a glance at fields of grass and grain, as we know them, 
could be placed before them. 

A familiar object along the way was a wire stretched 
from the foot to the summit of a mountain. I'll call it a 
hay telegraph. You see the farmer cuts grass which grows 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 6l 

on narrow ledges of rocks way up in the mountain. He 
stores it away until great quantities have been accumulated 
and then, when ready to have it stored close to his house 
for winter use, he sends bundle after bundle down the wire. 
That wire was a novel contrivance to save labor, for with- 
out it very many steps would surely have to be taken by 
the weary farmer. 

The government vessels carry provision and mail to 
the inhabitants living along the coast, and we were remind- 
ed of our freight or express cars, carrying all kinds of 
things and delivering them at regular points along the line. 
The steamer did not present a beautiful appearance, for the 
deck was greasy and very dirty looking. Quite a smell of 
fish filled the air, and we found that her main cargo con- 
sisted of fish and fish-oil. All of this accounted for the 
greasy look of the deck and the bad odor which greeted 
our nostrils. You would be surprised to know how much 
freight and express is taken on and off at those stations. I 
passed many hours standing at the railing of the ship 
watching the process of loading and unloading baggage, 
passengers and freight, and felt myself well entertained. 

One time two young girls rowed up alongside of the 
Kong Halfdan. A rope from the ship was thrown them 
with which to steady themselves; they caught it and were 
just in the act of taking hold of their express package 
when a wave came and washed them back; the second at- 
tempt was made, and that time they caught the rope and 
held tight to it. Do you believe they were scared? Well, 
they were not; and instead of screaming and saying, "We 



62 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

shall drown. Oh, don't let us try it again!" they pulled at 
the oars, and with a merry laugh received the package and 
then rowed for the shore, laughing and talking. Their 
package was a guitar, and no doubt the pleasure of having 
the instrument caused them to row with energy. Women 
and girls can handle a boat about as well as a man, and 
they have no more fears of being on water than the farm- 
er's daughter has when riding upon the back of a horse. 

At almost every station passengers came aboard, and 
oh how much we did wish English-speaking people would 
be of the number, for we did so long to hear our native lan- 
guage spoken. Almost all who took passage on our ship 
went second cabin. The fare was cheaper and the accom- 
modations accordingly poorer than first cabin. Foreigners 
don't mind poor accommodations; they are used to them at 
home, and it would be useless to pay a high price for any- 
thing better than what they are used to. 

As we traveled on the scenery seemed more grand; 
mountain peak after mountain peak was seen in the dis- 
tance, and the captain, who was always ready to give us in- 
formation, said, " Snow is seen upon those mountains the 
entire year, and numerous glaciers are sent off on both 
sides, extending very nearly down to the sea." Now a gla- 
cier is an immense mass of snow and ice formed in the 
regions of perpetual snow. It moves down, down the 
mountain side, carrying large rocks along. Would you 
like to see one? From the steamer we saw the snow- 
capped mountains, but a glacier we never beheld. The 
cold air which comes from a field of snow and ice blew 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 63 

down upon us as we stood upon deck, and I drew my heavy 
winter shawl more closely about me. The highest of the 
mountains which I've been telling you about are said to be 
five thousand feet high. Is it any wonder that we saw 
them when far away? 

I told you the captain was kind and thoughtful. Well, 
one day he gave us a surprise by running his vessel out of 
its course into a very narrow fjord. When he knew we 
were desirous of seeing things of interest along the route, 
he aimed to gratify the wish if possible. Our captain was 
proud of the scenery of Norway, and whenever he could 
make time and get to the different stations when due he 
showed his passengers favors. 

All first cabin passengers were invited to go up on the 
bridge. Now, that is where the steersman stands to guide 
the vessel. There was not a thing to obstruct the view ei- 
ther ahead or to the right or left of us; and everybody 
seemed to be amazed at the outlook. By and by the ship 
was steered toward a very narrow looking place, and I said, 
"Why, you won't try to go through there, will you?" and 
before my question was answered the ship passed between 
two high mountains into a small body of water which 
seemed scarcely large enough to hold a vessel the 
size of the Kong Half dan. Oh what a picture! It was 
beautiful! There was the blue sky overhead, with moun- 
tains on both sides of us, and not far away a lovely water- 
fall. There was a splendid echo at that point, and when 
the captain told us that the mountain to the right was 
twelve hundred feet high there was a return sound which 



64 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

repeated the words. The waterfall was fed from the melt- 
ing snow of the mountains, and it was a pleasure to watch 
the water rush and tumble down the mountain side. The 
little stones which lay in its way seemed not to hinder the 
rushing water, and if perchance they became loosened all 
went tumbling together until the water below was reached, 
when the stones fell to the bottom, never to rise again. 

While the beautiful picture was being admired the cap- 
tain blew the steam whistle three or four times, and as the 
shrill sound was quite unexpected to us some screamed out 
loud, and everybody within hearing distance laughed. 

We had not time to tarry long at that place, for it was 
getting on toward sundown. It seemed to me the ship was 
handled as though she were a mere toy, and the first thing 
we knew she had been turned around and was out in the 
wide fjord, steaming along at a rapid rate. One by one we 
took the captain by the hand and thanked him for the 
pleasure he had given us. You see, boys and girls, every- 
body likes to be appreciated, even the captain of a steam- 
ship; and when we saw the weather-beaten face all smiles 
we felt pretty sure we had given the captain some pleasure 
too, for he knew that the extra pains he had taken was 
gratifying to every one of the passengers. 

Tromso is the name of one of the stations along the 
route, and there we cast anchor lying by eight hours. All 
of the passengers but myself went ashore, and the captain 
said, "What, don't you go too? It will be lonely without 
the rest of the people." But I concluded it would be more 
pleasant to remain on the steamer and write letters than to 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 65 

go ashore in a small boat, for somehow I never did fancy 
the getting in and out of a small rowboat. My letter writ- 
ing occupied several hours, and when I had finished I went 
on deck where there was enough to entertain me the rest of 
the time. Coal, freight and passengers were taken on at 
Tromso, and for a while all was noise and confusion. 

Not very far from the ship was a floating buoy. Now, 
that is a floating mark to point out the position of objects 
beneath the water, such as rocks, sandbars, and anything 
which might prove disastrous to vessels or small boats. 
There are many different kinds of buoys, and each one has 
a meaning. The seaman knows them all and reads them 
like a book. 

Out in the bay were a great many little rowboats. One 
of them attracted my attention because there were three 
little boys in it, and I thought, "How dangerous!" I 
watched them, however, and saw they were making for the 
buoy. By and by they were alongside of it, and the next 
thing I knew two of them were sitting astride of it, while 
the third kept the boat from drifting away. Now I had de- 
cided those little fellows would surely roll off and perhaps 
be drowned, and I grew very anxious about their safety; 
but after having watched them an hour I concluded they 
were not strangers on the water, but knew the buoy well 
and were used to playing just where it pleased them. 

Their stay was a long one, and not wishing to watch 
them longer I turned to the other side of the deck; and 
there in the water were a dozen or more eider ducks swim- 
ming along as gracefully as could be, seeming not one bit 



66 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

afraid of the people who rowed past them. Eider ducks 
frequent low, rocky places near the coast. Their down is 
in great demand; it is used in that country for filling bed- 
coverlets, and you would be surprised to know how light in 
weight coverlets filled with eider down are. During the 
breeding season no one is allowed to shoot the eider ducks, 
or even to fire off a gun near their nests. Persons who are 
thoughtless enough to do so are fined for it. Because of 
the great care taken they are very tame, and do not fear 
man when he comes near them. 

The sun was getting pretty low, and the time for start- 
ing was near at hand. I was still on deck, but now my eyes 
were cast in the direction _of the city. I was looking for a 
boat that would bring back the passengers who had gone 
ashore. In the distance a boat came in view, and taking 
the field glass which was near by I pointed it in that direc- 
tion; and there, sure enough, was the one I had been, 
looking for. My joy was complete when the passengers, 
including my husband, were all safe on board the Kong 
Halfdan. 

All those who had gone ashore went expressly to visit 
a camp of Lapps, which was about a mile from the landing. 
The people were very much surprised to have so many 
strangers come upon them suddenly, so the children and 
dogs — and there were many of them — were badly scared ; 
but the grown people seemed willing to stand and look. I 
missed seeing the camp by remaining back, but I saw many 
of the Lapps, for they hung about the ship's landing. 
They were a curiosity to us, for their dress was very odd, 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 69 

which you can see for yourselves by looking at the family 
in the picture. There is father, mother and six children, 
That seems to be a large family for such a small hut, but 
the Lapps live very close together, and the less house room 
there is, the less work the housewife has to do. 

Those people are short in stature, measuring perhaps 
four or five feet in height. It is somewhat of a task to tell 
their complexion. Very little attention is paid to the care 
of it, but I'll say it seemed dark, rather copper-colored. If 
their faces were washed no doubt we should find a com- 
plexion altogether different from what has been described. 
The young Lapps have quite wrinkled, puckered-up look- 
ing faces, and with surprise you wonder why it is so. But 
when one takes into consideration the fact that most of 
their time is spent out of doors we cannot but conclude that 
wind and weather add nothing to their looks. 

The Laplanders are an inoffensive class of people, we. 
are told, and crimes among them are unknown; but they 
have a failing which I'm sorry to tell you of; it is that of 
strong drink. I have watched them pass into saloons; 
drunkenness is therefore no uncommon thing among them. 
What a dreadful habit to form; and men all over the world 
have given themselves over to the demon of strong drink, 
regardless of the consequences. I wish it were in my pow- 
er to write something which would cause every boy who 
reads to keep far away from saloons. Look upon me as a 
friend, my boy readers, and let me ask you not to touch the 
vile stuff which is sold behind the screen. Remember that 
sadness and distress come to yourselves and families with 



yO LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

the use of it. When tempted to drink do not, I beg of you, 
think it is manly to take a sip, and cowardly to refuse; but 
rather flee from the tempter and feel thankful you have es- 
caped the fangs of the great serpent which seemed ready to 
fasten itself upon you. Ah, I hope you may never, never 
forget that death and destruction come with the use of 
strong drink! May the Lord stand by and save you from 
the evil! 

Those who visited the camp at Tromso were especially 
anxious to see their herd of reindeer; but the Lapps had 
already driven them to the mountains for pasture; so the 
people were too late. The reindeer eat everything green in 
their march to the mountains, and in the winter there is, far 
under the snow, a moss which they feed upon and are won- 
derfully quick in getting. They are a very useful animal 
to the Laplander, more so than horses are to us. The rein- 
deer is harnessed to a sledge in winter and driven anywhere 
the Lapp desires to go. Three hundred pounds can be 
drawn by them, yet the amount is usually limited to a little 
over two hundred pounds. 

These animals, as I said before, are quite useful, for the 
meat is used for food and the hide for clothing and shoes. 
They are milked, and butter and cheese are made from the 
milk. The milkmaid sometimes has a big time to get the 
milking done, for the reindeer doesn't want to stand still 
for her. You know some cows are not willing to be milked; 
they kick and move about too freely for the milkmaid's 
comfort. Well, the reindeer doesn't like milking time any 
better than the cow; and where there is a large herd to be 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. Ji 

milked.it is necessary for a Lapp to get among them and 
throw a halter around the antlers, so that the animal may 
be held fast until milking is finished. You can imagine that 
man and maid have lively times while the catching is going 
on. Did you ever see the picture of a reindeer? Well, 
they have immense antlers, which come out from the head 
like great branches; and when the animal is full grown the 
antlers are very large, spreading far out and requiring a 
great deal of room. Where there is a herd of two or three 
hundred of them they have a big time among themselves 
hooking each other. 

While on board the Kong Halfdan we had both salt 
and fresh reindeer meat, and liked it very much. If you 
were here now, I would show you a pair of Lapp shoes. 
The hide was tanned with the fur on, and in making the 
shoes the fur was left on the outside. They are odd 
looking and quite fanciful in their make-up. 

Spoons and knife handles are made from the horns of 
the animal, and among our collection of Norway relics are 
two small spoons with a great deal of carving upon them, 
done by some of the Tromso Lapps. I can't say the carv- 
ing is fine at all, but it is rather amusing to look at. 

Time passed rapidly away, and the eight hours' stop at 
Tromso had ended. The passengers were all settled and 
the freight stored away. By and by the signal for starting 
was given; the ship turned about, and we steamed out of 
the bay. The atmosphere seemed quite cold at times, and 
we kept ourselves in our stateroom most of the time, sitting 
there wrapped in the steamer rug, passing the time in read- 



72 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

ing and writing to friends at home. The rocks and moun- 
tains kept us company, for from the porthole we saw them 
plainly. First they were to the right, then to the left of us. 

One day when sitting in our stateroom the captain 
called to us and said, " Come up on deck and see Torghat- 
ten." Now, what do you think that was? Not one of you 
could guess, I'm sure, so I'll just tell you. Torghatten was 
a great high mountain with a hole through it. Right close 
to the top was a natural tunnel, and daylight could be seen 
through it plainly from where we stood. We looked in 
wonder at the great work of nature, and thought, " God can 
do anything." The earth, and all that is in it, was made by 
him; nothing is impossible with him. The forming of a 
hole in the top of a mountain is small compared to the 
many greater things he has done; and, dear children, will 
you think often of the Maker of this great universe? Will 
you keep in mind what power the Lord has? If so you will 
exclaim as I have many times, "How wonderful are thy 
works, O Lord!" 

After passing Torghatten we continued standing on 
deck; and soon after we steamed past a great lot of rocks a 
mile or more wide. They were right out in the water and 
it seemed we would surely run on them with our big ship; 
but we didn't, though, and were glad of it too. On these 
rocks were hundreds of gray seagulls, and when the steam- 
er went puffing along they all flew up with a cry of alarm, 
for they were badly scared. After finding we intended no 
harm they all came down again; and as we looked back we 




The Hole in the Mountain. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 75 

could see them settling contentedly. You surely would 
have laughed if you had seen the scared seagulls. 

Sometimes the ship stopped when far away from a sta- 
tion. We wondered why, but soon found that a light fog 
had settled around the ship. It comes down rather sud- 
denly, and disappears just as suddenly as it comes. Often 
the bright sun is seen above, when all around the steamer is 
fog. The captain is compelled to stop his vessel and wait 
until the haze lifts. If he does not, there is great danger of 
running on the rocks, which are so plentiful that he must 
be cautious, or accidents will happen, and that would mean 
a loss of cargo, and lives too. 

Along the coast of Norway are valuable mackerel, her- 
ring, lobster and cod fisheries. Several thousand men are 
employed, and the herring and cod are caught in immense 
quantities. Hundreds of pounds of herring and codfish are 
taken on at every station. The cod are dried and tied in 
large bundles. The herring are usually put down in brine 
and packed in barrels; many of them are dried, too, but it 
seemed that more were salted down. The people along the 
coast, as well as those living in the interior of Norway, eat 
a great many fish, for the lakes abound in the finest kind of 
them. The smallest fish, which are not salable, are fed to 
the hogs and chickens. 

We had no trouble to get good fresh eggs to eat, for 
they were brought to the ship for sale. But at times they 
could not be eaten with a relish, as the taste of fish in them 
was too strong to make them palatable. That seemed to 
be a new revelation to us, and we decided that chickens 



76 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

ought not to be fed anything but the best of feed if an egg 
with a good taste is desired. 

We saw fish everywhere: dried fish in the hold of the 
steamer, fish on the table cooked in many different ways, 
and live fish in the water; fish, fish, and no end to the dif- 
ferent kinds. Fresh cod, trout and salmon were served on 
board the ship, and finer fish we never had the pleasure of 
eating. Several times cod liver was presented in our bill of 
fare. The seamen consider it a very fine dish. At first we 
ate but little of it; and I must say we never did like it as 
well as many other things upon the bill of fare. 

We stopped to take on passengers and cargo at a small 
station. The day was clear and the sun shone beautifully. 
The people on shore were standing watching the loading of 
the ship and the boatmen were pulling at the oars, trying 
to get their little rowboats close to the side of the steamer; 
and I stood watching all, when my attention was suddenly 
drawn to the water, which was beautifully clear; so clear 
that I was able to see down, down many feet, and there in 
its depths I saw swimming with ease thousands of little 
codfish. The confusion above seemed not to frighten them 
in the least, for they came nearer and nearer the surface. 
The little fellows seemed hungry, so forthwith I procured 
a biscuit and fed it to them piece by piece. Thus I stood 
for an hour or more, feeding and watching them. How 
swift they were in their movements; for each little fish was 
bound to have a nibble. The one which came out victori- 
ous was compelled to eat his bite in a hurry, for there was 
no time to be lost. I am confident you would have en- 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG, 77 

joyed watching those fish, for it truly was a pleasant pas- 
time. 

After leaving the station we passed, to the left of us, a 
pile of rocks; and a waterfall seemed to be there too. Tak- 
ing up the field glass we looked in the direction of the 
rocks, when, lo, nothing was to be seen but a daub of white 
paint a few feet long and perhaps a foot in width. Now 
what did that mean? Nothing but a trap by which to 
catch salmon. They are a hard fish to catch, and that in- 
vention was intended to lure them on to where nets were 
fixed to trap them. You see, the salmon desire fresh water, 
and they know it can only be found coming down from the 
mountain, so they swim for the supposed waterfall and are 
caught. The fishermen are quite ingenious.; yet I always 
felt sorry for the poor fish. 

Now do you know what that instance made me think 
of? Why, the evil one, who is continually setting traps 
for innocent children. Boys and girls, be careful you do 
not fall into the trap Satan sets for you. When you are 
tempted to tell an untruth, or to steal, or to play truant, or 
to be disobedient, just say, "I won't do it," and think that 
if you do any of these things you are getting into a trap 
which Satan has set to catch you. 

Hammerfest was reached at last, and the captain said 
we might board on the Kong Halfdan and take trips to 
land whenever we desired to do so. It seemed strange in- 
deed to be on land again, and no doubt the people thought 
so too, for they looked at us with amazement as we walked 
up one street and down another. 



78 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

There were three or four little children who followed 
us from street to street, never saying a word. I asked 
them if they spoke English, but they gave no reply. We 
gave them a small piece of money, and they gave a look 
which told that they knew full well what money was." Din- 
ner time came, still they followed, and I am very much 
afraid they lost their dinner that day. 

I told you before that there were many fisheries along 
the coast. Well, this town seemed wonderfully fishy; there 
were warehouses in which were stored dried herring and 
codfish; then there were factories where cod-liver oil was 
made. You would be surprised to know how full the air 
was filled with the odor of cod-liver oil. We were told the 
smell was healthful, so we took it into our lungs more will- 
ingly; yet, if it had been possible for us to have a choice in 
the matter, we would gladly have had the air free from the 
odor, for surely it was very unpleasant. 

Hammerfest is the farthest north of any town on the 
coast, and one day's journey from North Cape, the most 
northern point on the coast of Norway. The harbor at this 
place was full of vessels, both large and small, just as you 
see them in the picture, excepting two steamships which 
were then anchored far down in the bay. Spitzbergen is a 
great place for whalers and seal-hunters. It is four hun- 
dred miles from North Cape, the place where we had ex- 
pected to go. History tells us that from this place several 
attempts have been made to reach the North Pole. Wal- 
ruses, seals, foxes, reindeer, bears and birds are to be found 
there. _ 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 8l 

There was a. vessel in from Spitzbergen which had been 
there only a few hours. As a rule she carried no passen- 
gers, but on the last trip one passenger had been taken 
aboard; and as there are no staterooms on sealing vessels, 
the passenger was given a. box up on deck, and there, day 
and night, it stayed. The captain asked us if we would like 
to go over to the Spitzbergen ship and see the passenger. 
We said "Yes," so he had one of the Kong Halfdan's sea- 
men take down a boat, and the captain rowed us out in the 
bay, over to where the ship was anchored. When we 
reached the vessel I thought I would just stand in the small 
rowboat and look over the sides; but the captain said, "Oh, 
but you must go on the sailing vessel, or you can't see all 
that is to be seen." Now there were no steps to go up, and 
no ladder to climb, so how could I get over? Well, sea- 
men are used to climbing, and think everybody else is too; 
so he said, " Put one foot here, and the other up there, and 
then you will get up without trouble." I did as he direct- 
ed, and in a little while I was on deck and looking around. 

What did I see? Why, the hold of the ship packed 
full of fresh seal pelts. After killing the animals, they 
skinned them. The meat is thrown away, and the skins are 
taken to the hold of the ship, spread out, and salted right 
there. The next thing I saw was their passenger, and what 
do you think it was? A bear, a real live bear,- and just 
fresh from the polar regions. It was about five months old, 
and just as white as white polar bears are. 

The sailor who captured the bear said it fought nobly 
for freedom, and in the conflict he was unfortunate enough 



82 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

to have been bitten. The mother lost her life in the fight, 
and the hide hung near by to tell the story. In loud, piti- 
ful tones the orphaned bear called for its mother; but no 
answer came back to it. I do not know where the cub 
found a home; but it was shipped to Throndhjem, and from 
there was to be sent to a museum. We were glad to leave 
the Spitzbergen ship and return to our own, for the mourn- 
ful sound of the motherless white polar bear was not agree- 
able to us. 

There had been a great fire in the town of Hammerfest, 
completely destroying the finest residences and best hotels 
just the winter before we reached there. It was thought 
the whole town would surely succumb and be burned to 
ashes. Our ship was the best hotel, and we were fortunate 
to get plenty to eat and a comfortable bed to sleep in. A 
change of quarters would have been pleasant if a good ho- 
tel could have been found; but as it was we were very well 
satisfied. 

Hammerfest was the last stopping place along the line, 
and some of the sailors were off duty while the ship lay 
by at this place. About the first thing searched for is usu- 
ally a saloon, and there is never any trouble to find one, for 
there are plenty of places where the poor fellows may find 
entertainment with cards and strong drink. 

We had been on land a few hours and returned for 
luncheon, when our attention was attracted to a sailor upon 
the street who had indulged too freely in the use of whisky. 
He walked with unsteady gait to the ship landing, where 
eight or a dozen steps led to the boats in the water below. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 83 

No one could reach the steamer without descending 1 the 
stairway and going in the rowboats; and we wondered how 
any person with such tottering steps could descend without 
falling into the water. So we watched, and he went down 
step by step stumbling, yet catching himself again and 
again. His comrades saw him, and taking one of the ship's 
boats rowed for the drunken sailor, reaching him just as his 
weakened knees gave way. Headlong he pitched into the 
boat, and with a splash his feet went into the water. That 
was a trying time for the boatman, but he seemed equal to 
the occasion, and by tugging and pulling succeeded in get- 
ting the poor fellow into the boat, feet and all. With a 
steady row and in silence the side of the steamer was 
gained, and with plenty of help the unfortunate one was 
pulled through a small door in the side of the ship. He 
disappeared, and nothing more was seen of him till the 
next day, when, rather long faced, he was seen on duty. 

Now, children, you may be amused while reading this 
little incident of a drunken sailor, but just let me tell you 
that I was disgusted, and thought of the words of Solomon 
when he said, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: 
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." The 
drunken sailor knew not what he was doing, and was un- 
wise when he partook of strong drink. Now, boys, I'll 
give you something to learn, and as long as you shall live, 
don't ever forget it: "Woe unto them that rise up early in 
the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that con- 
tinue until night, till wine inflame them!" "Who hath 
woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath 



84 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

babblings? who hath wounds without cause? who hath red- 
ness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that 
go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine 
when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it 
moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, 
and stingeth like an adder. My son, give me thine heart, 
and let thine eyes observe my ways." 

May the Lord bless you, boys, and keep you from the 
drunkard's cup. 

There was nothing of great importance to be seen in 
Hammerfest, so we decided to make the return trip on the 
same steamer, which would leave after the cargo had been 
discharged. August twenty-sixth the anchor was hauled 
in and we started. 

There was a little change in the return route, which 
gave us a sail of a day or so on the Arctic Ocean. We had 
not gone far till the wind rose, and we had what the cap- 
tain called an "Arctic storm." The steamer was small, so 
it rolled and pitched a good deal. Oh how we wished to 
be out of that place! But one must put up with storms, 
and there is no use complaining about it either, for it does 
not help matters one bit, and a person is no happier. 

There was a whaling station on the route, and the cap- 
tain showed his kindness by telling some of the passengers 
that if they were so minded they could visit the camp. 
When my husband and a young German decided to go, the 
captain ordered the sailors to take a ship's boat and row 
them there and back again. The sea was very rough.,- so I 



LETTERS. TO THE YOUNG. 85 

decided to remain where I was, and not venture in a boat 
smaller than the Kong Halfdan. 

It was thought by the men that I had acted wisely in 
not accompanying them. The camp was found in a miser- 
ably dirty condition, for whales in different stages of de- 
composition were seen all around it. The fat of the de- 
cayed animals was thrown into a vat and rendered just as 
we render the fat of a hog. Very large vats of boiling oil 
were to be seen, and the odor sickened those who were not 
used to it; and I'm sure it would have sickened me too. 

For three days the weather was unpleasant, and a good 
share of that time I stayed in my stateroom. A great deal 
of rain falls in Norway during the summer, and it is quite 
necessary to carry rain-cloaks and a rubber blanket to 
throw over the baggage. These things are more needful to 
those traveling on land, because they are more exposed to 
the weather than persons who travel on water. We were 
well supplied with the necessary wraps, yet had but little 
use for them. 

Sunday was the fifth day on the return trip, and the 
sun came out bright and clear. Even though it was Sun- 
day the sailors worked faithfully taking on and off freight. 
We made a stop at a little village whose houses extended 
down to the water. A little white church, with green grass 
around it, looked so cozy standing in the beautiful sunlight. 
The bells were ringing and the sound came over the water 
to us. What a cheerful sound! and it created a desire with- 
in us to go and worship with the gathering congregation. 
We could not go ashore, for the steamer might leave us be- 



S6 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

hind; and that would never do. Many barrels of herring 
were taken aboard that day, and four hours passed before 
we steamed away; plenty of time to have gone ashore had 
we known it; but the privilege of mingling our prayers with 
those of the little congregation had passed away forever. 

Our ship was heavily laden with salted and dried fish, 
besides several hundred barrels of whale oil. All deck 
room was taken up, and only a narrow space was left us to 
walk upon. Passengers got on and every stateroom was 
occupied; besides many beds were made up in the dining 
saloon, and we were pretty well crowded. 

We found the Kong Halfdan was not in very good re- 
pair, for there seemed to be a good deal of tinkering done 
to the boiler; day and night, by spells, we heard the ham- 
mering. Upon inquiry we found the boiler had been leak- 
ing, and that it was not an easy matter to patch it up. 
When the sea washed the deck, or a hard rain came, the 
water dripped down in our stateroom, splashing dirty water 
on such articles as were near. Time did not pass any too 
swiftly for us, and we were glad to know that only a few 
days more and our feet would be on mother earth again. 

The scenery was grand all along the route, but the bad 
condition of the ship kept us from enjoying it to the fullest 
extent. You must surely know it is not a pleasant thought 
to be in a position where you are unable to help yourself if 
an accident should happen. It is not best to borrow troub- 
le; yet there are times when it seems impossible to keep 
from doing so. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 87 

One morning about six o'clock we were awakened from 
a sound sleep by a peculiar grating noise. The steamer 
had struck a reef of rocks, and I shall never forget the sen- 
sation. With one bound we were out of our berths, and, 
with but few words passing between us, dressed hastily. 
We knew full well that if a hole had been broken in the 
ship, with such a heavy cargo only a short time could pass 
before she would sink. Upon examination it was found 
that the propeller was injured, but not badly. In a few 
days after we steamed into Throndhjem Bay safely, and 
our hearts were filled with gratitude to the Lord for his 
watchful care. We were glad to have an opportunity to 
see so much of nature, for by it many good sermons were 
preached to us, and these words filled our mind, "O Lord, 
how great are thy works; and thy thoughts are very deep." 



C^^F, 



^^ 



CHAPTER IV. 




The Story of a German Boy. — The Priest. — Catholic Woman. — Corps of 
Singers. — My Singing Lesson. — Funeral Procession. — Children 
Playing. — Wooden Shoes. — Neatness of the German Children. — 
Their Politeness. — Cologne. — Its Cathedral. — Height of Towers. — 
Odd Costumes. — Art Gallery. — The Picture I Saw. 



AM going to tell you something about Germany 
now, but will first tell you of a boy who lived there 
many years ago. He had father, mother, brothers 
and sisters, and as a family they were very poor. The fa- 
ther worked hard in the copper mines, along with many 
other men in the settlement, and at home the mother 
worked equally hard looking after the comfort of the fami- 
ly and carrying upon her back the wood which was needed. 
She was a good, kind, Christian mother, and it is said she 
frequently "communed with God in prayer." 

Those times everybody belonged to the Roman Cath- 
olic church; consequently every father and mother taught 
the children to believe fully — as they themselves did — in 
the " Holy Catholic Church." This boy was the eldest of 
the family and was the first to be educated. As he neared 
the age when it would be necessary to send him away to 
school the parents became anxious. They knew they could 
ill afford to do it, as they had scarcely money enough for 



.LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 89 

their daily need and no chance of getting more. There 
seemed to be one way in which they might be enabled to 
save a little more money, and that was by living still more 
economically; and by putting their thoughts into practice 
enough money was saved to give the son a start in school. 
Not many miles distant from the boy's home was a select 
school, and thither the father and son went shortly after 
money enough had been saved. The support which his fa- 
ther gave him was not sufficient to cover expenses, so the 
lad was finally obliged to help himself, which was done by 
singing from door to door. As a reward small pieces of 
money were given him. The strictest economy was prac- 
ticed by the folks at home and the son also, and as a re- 
ward for all their trouble they learned that the boy for 
whom they were making those sacrifices was studious and 
worked hard and faithfully. 

Time rolled on, the boy had grown to manhood and 
become a great teacher. He seemed strong in the Romish 
faith and willing to make sacrifices for his church. By and 
by the duty of becoming a priest or monk was impressed 
upon him, and as soon as possible he wrote his intentions 
to his father. The reply to the letter was not favorable. 
As the new move was very displeasing to the parents, they 
said that if such a step should be taken further affection 
would be renounced. ' Those words availed nothing, for the 
vow was taken and the young priest was received into the 
order with prayers and hymns of joy. 

As the priest grew older his work in the church in- 
creased, and that caused him to read and study the Bible 



90 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

more diligently, and in so doing he found he was not serv- 
ing the Lord fully. 

Years passed away, and the young priest became dis- 
satisfied with his religion and decided to follow what he 
found to be the teachings of the Bible. In the course of 
time, and after much trouble, he separated himself from 
the Romish church, and from that time on his life was in 
great danger, for the Catholics were very bitter toward him. 
The Lord is thoughtful of his children, so he watched over 
this good man and allowed him to live many years after. 

Now whom do you imagine I've been writing about? 
Well, I shall tell you. It was Martin Luther, the founder 
of the state church of Germany, which is known throughout 
the world as the Lutheran church; and now almost every- 
body in Germany belongs to the state church, and not the 
Catholic church, as in the time of Martin Luther. This 
man's name is held high above all and his portrait is to be 
seen in almost every German home. Many of the beauti- 
ful churches which were owned by the Catholics are now 
used and owned by the Lutherans. 

One day while out walking with a Catholic woman we 
passed a large cathedral, and with trembling voice she said, 
"This belonged to our people one time, but it is ours no 
more." I felt sorry, and thought, "No wonder your heart 
is sad, for surely your house of worship is a very poor one 
compared to this;" for it was in a back street and dark and 
gloomy looking. The woman had nothing to feel proud 
of, therefore lamented. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 9 1 

We happened to be in Germany on the four hundredth 
anniversary of Luther's birthday, and a big day it was; 
there were processions and illuminations all over the city. 
The house in which Luther lived while in Halle was finely 
decorated with evergreen, and the gas jets were beautiful. 
It was not hard to tell where Catholics lived, for their 
houses alone were without lights. It was plain to be seen 
that no one stands higher in the minds of the people than 
Martin Luther. 

Many of the students attending college in Germany 
make part of their expenses as did Martin Luther, by sing- 
ing from door to door. Their voices are well trained, and 
when a square or two from them, the whole company of 
voices seemed like four voices, their singing accorded so 
well. The corps of singers is composed of a dozen or more 
young men, and though their size varies their dress is alike, 
for they wear black suits of clothing; the vest is cut low, 
exposing the shirt bosom; the coat is cut swallow-tail, and 
upon the head a plug hat is worn. Their ages range from 
twelve to sixteen years, and you may imagine how very 
odd the company looked to us. There is a leader who 
stands before them beating time, and I don't believe any 
one of them miscalculates the length of a note or rest in 
the piece of music sung. I am sure many of you never 
heard finer singing. 

Germans, as a rule, are fine singers, and you hear plen- 
ty of singing even while walking upon the streets. One 
time we were awakened from a sound sleep by singing on 
the street. We looked out of the window and beheld a 



92 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

company of soldiers all singing as they marched along. 
Little boys and girls go home from school, walking along 
leisurely and singing beautiful hymns and songs. 

We were living with a family who had several children, 
and one of them, a little girl about seven years of age, 
dearly loved to sing. This little girl insisted upon my 
helping her, but I said, "I cannot sing in German," when 
immediately she replied, "I will teach you my tune." The 
task was begun, and after a great deal of laughing and 
many corrections I was able to sing her hymn, " Stille 
Nacht" (Stilly Night). Quickly she ran to her mother and 
told the news, and I was congratulated, for the family 
thought I had done a wonderful thing. To tell the truth, I 
was equally well pleased, and afterward took pleasure in 
singing my German hymn. 

You may think, by the way I have been writing, that 
everything in the old world moves along pleasantly, and 
that the children are always well and happy. I would not 
have you think so, because sorrow and distress are there, as 
well as in this country. 

In looking out of my window, which was quite often, I 
saw that which was amusing, and also some things which 
were very sad. One day a funeral procession passed by, 
and it consisted of father and mother. Four pall bearers 
carried a casket containing the corpse of a little child. 
The rain came down fast, and equally fast fell the tears of 
sorrow from their eyes as slowly they moved along. There 
was no hearse, and no carriages. Why? Because the peo- 
ple were poor; it would take money for these things, and 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 93 

there was none to spare. Ah, how my heart ached for 
them, and I turned from my window with tearful eyes. 
Poverty is to be found on all sides, and since it is impossi- 
ble to help all we learn to cast the distressing sights from 
our minds and leave them with the One who watches over 
and cares for all. 

An American is surprised at the cleanliness of German 
cities. It is no uncommon sight to see well-dressed ladies 
walking in the middle of the streets. Their shoes and 
skirts will not be soiled any quicker by walking there than 
on the sidewalk. We feel ashamed when we compare the 
dirty streets of American cities with the clean, well-swept 
streets of Germany, and in our hearts we wished ours 
might be different. 

Houses are built three stories high; each floor is ar- 
ranged for one family, but sometimes there are as many as 
three families living on one floor, each having no more 
than one room in which to sleep, cook, eat and sit. I knew 
a family of five who lived in one room; and they seemed to 
be well satisfied too. 

No matter where one goes he is sure to see many chil- 
dren, and they seem to have as good a time playing as any 
of you. They run, jump and make as much noise too. 
Many times I stood at my window in Halle and watched 
the little folks play on the opposite side of the street. One 
time I counted fifteen boys and girls playing, and their 
ages seemed to be from five to ten years; and — don't you 
think? — they all belonged to the same house. Now you 
might think their little feet pattering on the floor would 



94 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

make a great noise, but they don't, because all wear felt 
slippers in the house; even the fathers and mothers wear 
them. In Germany the floors are not carpeted as in this 
country, but almost all of them are bare. Where families 
are in good circumstances nice rugs are used; where there 
are no rugs the floors are sanded, and you can't imagine 
how strange it does seem to walk on sanded floors. Felt 
slippers are fine things to keep the feet warm, and I know 
the little folks over there would have cold toes all the time 
if it were not for those comfortable slippers. 

Wooden shoes and slippers are worn quite a good deal, 
and many times I laughed heartily when the little boys and 
girls ran. No matter whether I was looking out Of the win- 
dow or sitting back in the room, I could always tell when 
they had commenced their running. Do you wonder how I 
knew it? Why, just by the noise they made. I presume 
many of you never saw a pair of \Vooden shoes or slippers. 
Well, that doesn't make any difference, for I never saw a 
pair until I went to the Old Country, — I have learned since 
then that there are plenty of wooden shoes in America, and 
not so many miles from where I am living. There is a dif- 
ference between shoes and slippers. Just take one of your 
old shoes, tear off the leather excepting the part that cov- 
ers the toes, then substitute a wooden sole instead of a 
leather one, and you can imagine how they look. You 
would naturally suppose it to be quite a task to keep such 
a foot covering on when running; but you will be surprised 
to know they did not seem one bit bothered, and I am pret- 
ty sure the German children can run just as fast as any of 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 95 

you. Sometimes they stop to shove their toes farther into 
the slipper, after which they run as fast as ever. And now 
why did I laugh? Because of the great noise all the little 
wooden slippers made. What made them make a noise? 
Why, the sole of the slipper flying up and down. At regu- 
lar intervals you could hear a noise that sounded like clap, 
clap, clap, and the faster the children ran the more clap, 
claps we could hear; somehow this was always very amus- 
ing to me. 

Many of the Germans are poor; yes, very poor; and 
yet, — don't you know? — with all their poverty, the chil- 
dren's clothing never looked ragged. Their clothing is 
sometimes made of very coarse material, and often many 
patches are to be seen, but no tatters. They all wore wool- 
en stockings, knit by hand; not one time did I see the bare 
heel of a child sticking out. All stockings were well 
darned. Could not some of our American mothers learn 
lessons of carefulness and economy from these poor Ger- 
man women? 

Let me tell you something, little girls. You who are 
old enough to read are old enough to do a little sewing 
too, and how nice it would be for you to take hold and 
learn now! Long years ago I was a little girl; one time, — 
when ten years old, — my sister said, "Lizzie, when a tiny 
little hole comes in your stocking, it is a good plan to darn 
it right away; then you will never, have to darn a great big 
hole, which seems so trying to the patience." The advice 
was good, and I followed it accordingly; to this day I have 



g6 letters to the young. 

never felt sorry for the advice of long ago. Will you think 
of it too, little girls? 

Children in the Old Country are taught to be very po- 
lite. It made no difference where they saw us, a bow and 
" Guten Morgen" (Good morning) was the greeting. Even 
though we did not know the names of the little girls and 
boys, it seems they knew us, having learned to know we 
lived on the same street they did. Don't you think it is a 
good thing to be polite? I wonder why little folks here 
act rude and pass by those who speak to them, acting as 
though they never knew the gentleman or lady who spoke? 
Perhaps teachers and parents forget to teach the little ones 
politeness. 

Writing about poverty brings to my mind the little 
boys and girls who ate bread spread with lard instead of 
butter. And now I wonder how many of you, my little 
readers, would enjoy that kind of fare. No doubt you will 
say, "Oh, how horrid;" but let me tell you that those chil- 
dren ate their bread with a relish, and maybe you would 
too if you knew there was nothing better for you. They 
learned to know almost everything tastes good when one is 
hungry. 

The Old World is full of relics of the past, and there is 
scarcely a city that does not have a church, art gallery or 
museum in which one might spend much time and be 
greatly edified. 

We spent several days in Cologne, and by hiring a car- 
riage for a couple of hours had a splendid opportunity of 
seeing the city, which is beautifully situated upon the left 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 97 

bank of the river Rhine. At one time a very thick wall 
surrounded the city and it was pierced with four gates. 
Only a small portion of wall attached to the gates is to be 
seen now, for the rest has been removed. Outside of the 
old gateways there are beautiful residences, and great pains 
are taken to beautify the front dooryards. The streets in 
the old part of the city are crooked, narrow and not very 
clean looking, but in the new portion they are quite the re- 
verse. 

Cologne is an old city, and there are many very old 
churches which we found to be interesting, not only be- 
cause of their age, but because of the works of art; for these 
are paintings which were done by the best painters the 
world knew. In this city is a fine church, or cathedral, 
which greatly attracts the attention of tourists, and many 
of them travel hundreds' of miles just to see it, and it alone. 
It is a very large structure, therefore has had many, many 
years of work put upon it; even while we were looking 
around the workmen were busily engaged in hammering. 
The cathedral is built in the form of a cross and is said to 
be four hundred and eighty feet long, two hundred and 
eighty-two feet wide, and the height of the central aisle one 
hundred and fifty-four feet. Just notice in the picture how 
far above the houses the towers extend. Well, when they 
are completed their height will be upwards of five hundred 
feet. There is a chime of bells, six in number, up in the 
tower, and the heaviest of the bells weighs eleven tons. 
With that chime music was made, and it was such a pleas- 
ure to sit in my room, which was not far away, and listen to 



98 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

the beautiful tunes as they were played one by one. The 
windows in the Dom Kirche — for it is known by that name 
— were all presented at different times, and are richly col- 
ored, each one representing some Bible character, the Vir- 
gin Mary being the central figure in some of them. For 
the sum of one and a half marks each we were admitted in- 
to the treasury where were stored many costly things, such 
as jewels, gold and silver ornaments and many other things 
of great value. The high choir and chapel were not open 
to visitors free, but after high mass was celebrated those 
who visited the treasury were allowed to see all the rest. 
But I shall not write any longer on this subject, for possi' 
bly you may tire of it. 

In traveling through Germany we noticed in certain lo- 
calities that the women wore very odd looking costumes. 
The skirts were extremely full, and in length reached the 
knee. Some wore very long white stockings, and others 
wore black ones, all wearing very low slippers. The hair 
was combed up on the very top of the head, and for a bon- 
net a sort of a box was worn, just large enough to cover the 
top of the head and hair. They were the most oddly 
dressed women we ever did see, and — don't you know? — 
they did not attract extra attention from the passers-by. 
No doubt this way of dressing had been handed down from 
generation to generation; therefore everybody living in that 
locality was used^to it. 

The Germans are great people for pictures, oil paint- 
ings, etc., and works of the great masters are to be seen in 




Cathedral at Cologne. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. IOI 

their galleries. One could spend hours wandering from 
gallery to gallery, studying the paintings one by one; for 
the more we look at fine pieces of art the more we admire 
them. Not only do we admire the man who did the work, 
but through him think of the Divine Hand which gave the 
mind to the great artist. 

While in Munich, a large city in Germany, we visited a 
gallery of very fine paintings. Among those in which we 
were particularly interested was an immense painting of the 
judgment day. There, seated in a chair, was the judge, and 
in the foreground were to be seen graves, some opening 
and others already open. Both men and women were to be 
seen coming forth, and as they stepped from their graves 
they started for the judge; and they soon found on which 
side they belonged. Only a few were to be seen sitting on 
the right side, and the rest disappeared with faces ghastly 
and full of distress; and those who were seated on the right 
side of the judge had faces beaming with pleasure. While 
looking at this work of art I could not help but call to 
mind the portion of Scripture which says, "Depart from 
me, I never knew you," etc. The painting was to repre- 
sent the Son of Man sitting upon the throne and judging 
all the nations of the earth. It was only a picture and 
work of man, but it was good enough to make an impres- 
sion on my mind, for it caused me to think of the distress 
which awaits all who do not do the Lord's bidding, and so 
are unprofitable servants. I have found it pays to be a 
true follower of Christ, for there is joy unspeakable in serv- 
ing him. I hope you will think seriously of the salvation 



102 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



of your souls. Be lambs in the fold of Christ, so that you 
may have the happy privilege of being seated at the right 
hand of the great Judge on the last day. 




CHAPTER V. 




Calais. — English Channel Experience. — Reaching the Pier. — Going 
Ashore. — London. — The Fog. — Show Lights. — British Museum. — 
National Gallery. — The Tricky Monkey. — Westminster Abbey. — The 
Tower. 



HE next point of interest to be visited was London, 
England; so early one morning we took the train at 
Cologne, traveled all day, and arrived after dark at 
& Calais, a town of France. At this point we left the 
railway and went aboard the steamer which conveys pas- 
sengers and mail across the Channel to Dover, a distance of 
perhaps twenty-six miles. 

There is a fine harbor at Calais, but owing to the dark- 
ness of the night we were not able to see it then. There 
was not a moment of time to lose, for the steamer was ready 
to start back on her return trip to Dover. There were but 
few passengers on board that evening, and down deep in 
my heart I wished we had been among the number who had 
wisdom enough to remain on shore. But one is not always 
able to see the danger which may be ahead, and must 
therefore suffer the consequences. 

As soon as the steamer left the harbor we felt very 
sure a trying time was in store for us; but it was too late to 
turn back, so we tried to make the best of the situation by 



104 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

making ourselves comfortable. The English Channel is 
affected very much by storms on the coasts, and at such 
times the waters become greatly troubled; so much so that 
ships are wrecked and many lives lost. On this particular 
day a very severe storm raged; it had started on the Irish 
coast and by the time the Channel was reached there was a 
genuine cyclone. The wind blew a gale and the breakers 
dashed against the steamer until the little thing rolled and 
pitched shockingly. Truly we were in dangerous waters, 
and we were made to feel it more keenly after hearing an 
order given to the sailors to "take down the life-buoys." 
Never before in our journeyings by sea had such an order 
been given in our hearing; so you may believe it made me 
sick at heart. Seasickness did not trouble us, strange to 
say, though the steward came to us often, thinking perhaps 
we should need assistance; but there was nothing needed 
excepting a quiet sea. Each time the man came around 
husband asked, "How are we getting along now? Shall we 
soon be over?" and the reply came, "This is a very bad 
night, sir; but we hope to make the pier." 

Seasickness would have been a small thing to endure 
compared to the distress which followed, for by this time 
my nerves were unstrung and I was in agony. Nothing 
could be done but bear the distress, and silently I groaned 
prayer after prayer to the Father above. Very few were 
my words, for I remembered the Lord did not hear us alone 
for our much speaking, and in such a perilous situation one 
does not stop to choose the words he may utter. Again 
and again I groaned, "O Lord, keep thy watchful eye upon 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 105 

us; and I pray thee keep thy children from the dangers of 
this angry sea." We placed ourselves in the hands of the 
Lord, and oh what a feeling of security there was;. and in 
the words of the Psalmist we were able to say, "The Lord, 
he is my refuge and my fortress: my God, in him will I 
trust." Yes, even though our bodies trembled, our hearts 
were strong in him, and we trusted. The Lord had been 
especially good to us, not because we were deserving, but 
perhaps because he wanted us a little longer on the earth 
that his servant — my husband — might have a longer time in 
which to tell of the " truths of God's Word." 

We read that "they that seek the Lord shall not want 
any good thing," and in my Christian experience I have 
found the blessings were beyond my hope. "Come, ye 
children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the 
Lord." He desires boys and girls in his kingdom. Will 
you seek him early? Remember Samuel; he was but a 
child when he "ministered before the Lord." And then 
think of Daniel; what a good young man he was, for we 
read that he had an excellent spirit and "he was faithful; 
neither was there any error or fault found in him." That 
was a good recommendation; but we learn more about him; 
he prayed, and was not ashamed of it either; for we read of 
a decree which had been signed by king Darius and sent 
out. It said, "Whosoever shall ask a petition of any god 
or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be 
cast into the den of lions." Daniel no doubt felt badly 
when he heard of the decree; but nevertheless he went 



106 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

three times a day and prayed as had been his custom. The 
result you know. 

My young readers, do you want good examples of 
Christians? then pattern after these boys of whom I have 
written. The Lord watched over them; he delivered Dan- 
iel from the lion's den into which he had been cast for 
praying. Do you know he will help you to bear the scoffs 
and jeers of your comrades if you should forsake them and 
follow him? You know "Jesus said unto Simon, Fear 
not"? And to you he says the same. Will you think of 
these things? 

In thinking over the experience on the Channel I call 
to mind a sound which, though far away, proved to be 
soothing in its effect. I imagine you say, What was it? 
So I'll tell you that while lying upon my couch that night I 
heard a sailor off in a distant part of the steamer hurrying 
around performing his duties; and while doing so he whis- 
tled in a cheery, joyful tone. The waves were breaking 
high then, and perhaps the sailor never thought the sound 
would reach the ears of any one except his comrades who 
were rushing around near by him. But a current of wind 
brought the music to me. and from now till I leave this 
world I shall never forget that whistling. For a few minutes 
self was forgotten and my nerves quieted, and then there 
came an end to the whistling, for a voice called loudly, 
"She is fast;" and that meant the pier had been gained. 
But joy did not come then, for the next thing we knew we 
were steaming out to sea again, rolling and pitching as hard 
as ever. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. IOJ 

Twice the attempt was made to gain the landing, but 
each time the heavy breakers washed the vessel away. 
The third attempt was made and success crowned the ef- 
fort, when immediately after came the order, "Make haste 
and go ashore." This order was given to the passengers, 
and as soon as possible we all undertook the difficult task 
of getting to the passageway which led to land. The 
breakers dashed furiously over the side of the steamer and 
great banks of water poured down upon Our heads and 
backs, for we stood still with faces turned from the direc- 
tion of the breaking waves. We scarcely knew how to 
reach shore without help, for the water came with a dash at 
regular intervals, making it almost impossible for us to 
walk. Thinking the sailor might assist us in landing I ven- 
tured to ask him, saying, "Oh, will you not help us over the 
passageway?" but the answer came, "No, madam, I dare 
not." There was nothing to hinder him from helping us 
while upon the boat, so taking my hand we hurried along 
over the deck until the inclined passageway was gained, 
when he left me to stumble on in the dark. Rain cloaks 
were of little service that night, for the salt sea water went 
through them, and consequently the clothing was dripping 
wet. 

Land was gained at last, and immediately we entered 
the cars which were waiting to carry passengers and mail 
on to London. After getting our breath we looked around, 
and to our utter surprise found that the seats and floor had 
bee'n drenched with water which had entered through the 
windows, which had been broken by the waves dashing 



108 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

against them while the cars were standing upon the pier. 
The admiralty pier is a massive structure extending out in- 
to the sea; and during the storm some of the immense 
stones were washed out and carried away. Papers of the 
following day gave full accounts of the storm, and the rec- 
ord of shipwrecks was enormous. It is said the like of 
such a storm had not been known for many, many years. 
I think the memory of it will abide with me while life shall 
last, and I shall always feel that the Lord watched over us 
and heard our prayers. 

Twelve o'clock that night we reached the great city of 
London, and it was in a drenching rain. We were taken to 
a hotel a long distance from the depot, which place we 
called home for three weeks. When my health allowed 
me, I accompanied my husband to places of interest, but 
there were very many days when I was not able to bear the 
noise upon the streets, so remained within the cheerless ho- 
tel room. All large cities are cheerless and disagreeable in 
rainy weather; but it seemed to me the city of London was 
the most disagreeable one of all, for there was a great deal 
of rain and much foggy weather at that time. . The fog be- 
comes very dense sometimes, and those times it is quite dan- 
gerous to be upon the streets. The city is well lighted, and 
yet when the fog comes down the lights seem to be of but 
little use. Teamsters call out, "Show lights! show lights!" 
and as soon as possible the people place lights in every 
window of their houses. People who are out walking are 
unable to know when a horse is near them, and no doubt 
many are trampled under the horses' feet. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 109 

We visited many places of great interest while in this 
large city, and though I shall not be able to tell of all the 
attractive objects seen I will briefly mention a few of them. 
The British Museum was only a few blocks from our hotel, 
so much of our time was spent there looking at the relics 
which had been collected from all parts of the world. 

There is a "National Gallery" in London, and there 
you find paintings of noted artists on exhibition. Almost 
-every day in the week it is open to the public free; so a 
great many people spend hours looking at the beautiful 
work of man, which is done either with pencil or brush. 
Many of the old artists took much pleasure in painting the 
"Madonna and- Child," and that means Mary and Jesus; 
and in almost every instance the face of the mother is won- 
derfully beautiful; the child is plump in body and has a 
round, full face. Joseph and his brethren, John the Bap- 
tist, and other Bible characters were there, for it seems that 
noted artists of long ago spent their time in putting on can- 
vas what they imagined the saints of old looked like; and 
most of them are represented as being fine looking men. 

It is impossible for me to write you a description of all 
the interesting pieces of art on exhibition there, so we shall 
leave the Gallery and visit the Zoological Gardens, for it 
seemed to be an attractive place for old and young people. 
Animals of all countries may be seen there, and who is it 
that does not desire to see animals of foreign lands? We 
spent one afternoon there, and in our wanderings saw the 
rhinoceros and hippopotamus — both natives of Africa. 
Then there were the great, clumsy looking elephants, some 



110 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

of which were allowed to walk about without chains. One 
of them had a large platform fixed upon his back, and for a 
certain sum of money any one who desired could have a 
ride up one avenue and down another. There was a man 
to lead the animal, and you would be surprised to know 
how many boys, girls and middle-aged people took the 
ride. We watched them, but got no closer. 

Children enjoy looking at monkeys, and on the after- 
noon we were at the Gardens there were numbers of them 
at the monkey cages throwing in crackers, apples and 
cakes; and oh how the little folks laughed when a monkey 
hung by his tail from the perch, or undertook the task of 
scratching his neighbor's head. They are wonderfully 
tricky; so every one is cautioned to keep away from the 
cages, to not get too close to the wires. Here and there 
were printed cards which said, " Persons with spectacles 
keep away." You see the monkeys had a habit of snatch- 
ing off the glasses, and that accounted for the warning. 

A young girl with her lover stood close to the cage 
that afternoon. She was decked in the height of style, 
with an immense bunch of flowers upon her hat; and over 
her face was a thin vail. One of the tricky fellows quick 
jumped up, ran his thin paws out between the wires and in 
an instant had the little face vail in his paws; and jumping 
on the perch sat there and tore it in shreds, while occasion- 
ally shy glances were cast at the young girl whose crimson 
face told of the embarrassment felt, for all eyes were upon 
her. Every one around laughed, and the children could 
hardly forget the cunning little monkey. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. Ill 

If one of these little fellows saw you put your hand in 
your pocket, he was sure you would bring out something 
for him; and if you gave him nothing there was a look of 
disappointment. 

The lions, tigers and hyenas were visited next, and 
we found them growling, and prancing back and forth. It 
was feeding time, and the keeper gave them great chunks 
of raw meat, which they devoured ravenously. But even- 
ing was drawing near, so we left there and went to our ho- 
tel, reaching there in time for dinner, — the evening meal. 

Westminster Abbey is a church, and it is a sacred 
place for the English people, for in it are to be seen the 
tombs of kings, queens and other noted people. In look- 
ing around one is impressed with the thought of age; and 
no wonder, for we read that the Abbey had been destroyed 
by the Danes, and re-erected by King Edgar in the year 
985. But it seems to have been "entirely rebuilt in the lat- 
ter half of the 13th century by Henry the Third and his son 
Edward the Fifth, who left it substantially in its present 
condition." The Abbey seems almost like a graveyard, for 
as you pass up one aisle and down another you behold 
large monuments erected in memory of noble men who fell 
in battle. 

How strange it seemed to be standing by the tombs of 
kings and queens of whom we had read when school chil- 
dren. There in a vault were the remains of Charles the 
Second, William the Third, and Queen Mary his wife. And 
further on was the monument of Queen Elizabeth. I might 
go on and write many pages of what we saw there, but 



112 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

must leave the gloomy, dismal place. I wondered how 
people could worship in a place where there is such a grand 
display of monuments and tombs. 

The Tower of London is said to be the most interest- 
ing spot in England. It is found outside of the bounds of 
the ancient city walls. It has four entrances, — the " Iron 
Gate, the Water Gate, and the Traitor's Gate." These 
gates are on the side next to the river Thames. The men 
who act as guards are called "Wardens or Beef-eaters." I 
think every one of them is a very old man. The strange 
term beef-eater is explained as being "a nickname be- 
stowed upon the ancient yeomen of the guard from the 
fact that rations of beef were regularly served out to them 
when on duty." 

In the Tower is the armory, where may be seen imple- 
ments of war and torture, figures of horses almost as natur- 
al looking as life, and soldiers seated upon their backs 
equipped for war; a good representation of how the war- 
riors of the time of king Charles First and William the Con- 
queror looked when ready for fight. There we saw the 
beheading block, axe and mask which were used in the 
dreadful work of sending people into eternity. 

There is a chapel which no visitors are allowed to en- 
ter, and in it are buried celebrated persons who were be- 
headed. In the year 1535 the first person was executed, 
and in the following year, 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn was 
beheaded upon the green; and we stood near the spot 
where the bloody deed was done, for a marble slab marks 
the place. When looking at the beheading block we could 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 113 

not help but think of the untold agony it could tell were it 
but able to speak. Many noted people, both men and 
women, were at different times imprisoned in the Tower, 
placed there to await the time of execution. But some- 
times one of them would be murdered there, while others 
again were tortured and then taken away to be burned as 
heretics. Those were distressing times, and innocent peo- 
ple suffered. 

There are on exhibition in the Tower the crown of 
Queen Victoria and many solid gold vessels. Among the 
collection were beautiful golden saltcellars. One of them 
was made in imitation of a large castle and is beautifully 
studded with precious stones. There were staffs and scep- 
ters which sparkled with diamonds as they lay in the sun- 
light. Policemen guarded well the case which contained 
them, for not every person is honest who looks at them, 
and attempts have been made to break through the case. 

Days seemed to go by rapidly, and three times Sunday 
came while we were in London. It was usually a quiet day' 
for a city, as only a few teams passed on the street in front 
of our hotel. 'Bus horses had a season of rest then, for 
they run on half time. Stores were closed, and even the 
hotel employees had rest, for only two meals were allowed 
the guests. The whole city had a restful air which made 
one think the most of the inhabitants had gone to some 
place of worship. 

There is a house of worship called the "Temple 
Church," and Dr. Parker is the minister; so we decided to go 
to hear him. The church was crowded with people, for it 



114 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

proved to be the day of their harvest home meeting, — 
something entirely new to us. We were favored with a 
good seat and not far from the stand where the learned 
doctor stood. Upon this rostrum was a mass of flowers, 
fruits, vegetables and bread, all arranged tastefully; yet 
they did seem to be very much out of place in a church. 
However, we overlooked that when we found that each ar- 
ticle there was a free-will offering for the poor and sick, 
given by any one, and presented to those who were in need 
of them. Sick people were the recipients of flowers, and 
the bread and vegetables went to the poor and destitute. 

At the close of our harvests we sometimes gather to- 
gether and have a harvest meeting; but we are not thought- 
ful enough to bring an offering of the fruit of our land, as 
did the English people. If we are blessed with an abun- 
dance would it not be well to divide with less favored ones? 

Well, Dr. Parker preached an excellent sermon, and his 
prayer was so comforting. Willingly would we have re- 
'mained longer in the church, but that was out of the ques- 
tion; so we passed out with the crowd into the street, and 
to the place we tried hard to call home. Each Sunday 
some place of worship was attended, but we rather pre- 
ferred Dr. Parker to any other minister. 

Time seemed to pass rapidly away, and by and by we 
bade adieu to London, crossed over the Channel and found 
ourselves safe in France. The English Channel was rather 
smooth and the steamer crowded with passengers who had 
been waiting for the storm to cease. The passage was de- 
lightful, and I enjoyed the trip as much as a person with 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 1 5 

shattered nerves might expect to enjoy it. After riding in 
the cars three or four hours we reached the city of Paris, 
and that you know is the capital of France, and a very 
large city. We were there four weeks. Each day we vis- 
ited places of interest, such as public buildings, palaces and 
cathedrals, public squares and cemeteries. Of the last 
named there is one called Pere la Chaise. It contains one 
hundred and six and a half acres. It is laid out in avenues 
and seems almost like a city, with its grand tombs, large 
enough to hold many, many people. We noticed that il- 
lustrious personages were buried there, for we saw the 
names of lords and ladies. Poor people were not able to 
buy lots there, so were content to place their dead in less 
beautiful places. It is the custom in Paris for persons to 
take off their hats on meeting a funeral procession, whether 
in the country or in the public streets. That seemed like 
an odd custom, but one gets used to many strange sights 
when abroad. 

The sewers of Paris are spoken of very highly, and it 
is said they are four hundred and forty-one miles in length. 
Some of the sewers are wide enough to allow boats to pass 
through them, and at certain times of the year visitors may 
take a tour through them; but they must first have a special 
permit. The river Seine flows through Paris, and small ex- 
cursion steamboats take passengers out, thus giving a good 
view of both sides of the river and landing them at small 
towns outside of the city limit. 

There is no use for me to try to tell you all we saw in 
Paris, for each day there were new sights presented to us. 



n6 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



Seeing the fashions seems to be the highest ambition of 
some people, and many of them go to Paris for that pur- 
pose. People are able to gratify the desire there, and it is 
to be hoped they return home satisfied. 




CHAPTER VI. 




Venice. — A Gondola. — The Pigeons. — Trieste. — Piresus. — Athens. — Paul 

and Mars Hill. — Sickness. — From Athens to Smyrna."— Man Over- 

' board. — A Lesson of Unselfishness. — Smyrna. — A Cruel Father. — 

Ephesus. — Paul's Missionary Journey. — The Vesta. — Bey rut. — Jaffa 

Landing. 



OU may go with me, in your mind, to Venice, a city 
in Italy, where we found ourselves very early one 
winter morning. Day had not yet dawned, and 
darkness reigned supreme. Lamps were burning inside of 
the depot, giving just light enough for passengers to see 
every object plainly. At the foot of a flight of steps not 
far away stood two men, and as we were in search of a ho- 
tel porter we immediately walked toward them. Upon 
their cap-band, in large letters, was the name of the hotel 
we desired going to, and without speaking one word our 
traveling bags were taken and placed in a small boat, and 
we followed after, taking a seat near by them. We were 
strangers, ignorant of the language, cold and tired. 

The boatmen dipped their oars with a splash, and in 
the mean time talked loudly to each other. The towns- 
people, no doubt, were in bed asleep, for not a sound but 
that of our boatmen was heard, and no lights were seen, ex- 
cepting the lights which marked the corners. The distance 



Il8 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

seemed great, for we paddled up one canal and down an- 
other, until we knew not where the starting point was, and 
had no idea where the men were taking us. 

Venice was the strangest city we had ever visited. 
Front doorsteps extended out into the water, and boatmen 
pulled up alongside of them with their little gondolas. A 
large door showed us the entrance to the hotel; but it was 
closed, and with a great deal of energy our fist came down 
against it. After patiently waiting, admittance was gained, 
for a winking, blinking-eyed servant, with hair standing 
straight up over his head, had heard the noise and ap- 
peared to find out the cause. In one hand he held a can- 
dle, and with the other kept tight hold of the door. At 
first thought an entrance seemed out of the question; but 
after his eyes were opened more widely he saw better and 
knew we were guests of the hotel; so forthwith the door 
opened and we passed into the hall, where a man who was 
not dazed took charge of us and we were glad to be taken 
to our room, where in a short time after we were warmly 
covered up in bed. Our journey had been long and tire- 
some, and the next morning found us still tired and not 
willing to rise early. 

Venice was the meeting point for us, as a party of tour- 
ists, and from there we were to go on to Jerusalem togeth- 
er. We were ahead of time, so decided to go sight-seeing 
by ourselves; and an enjoyable time was had going from 
one point to another. 

History tells us much about the city I'm writing about, 
but time and space will not allow me to repeat it to you. I 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 119 

will, however, tell you that Venice is said to stand on one 
hundred and seventeen islands. There are one hundred 
and fifty canals, and those canals are spanned by three hun- 
dred and eighty bridges. There are a few narrow streets 
where people can walk, and when standing in the middle of 
one with arms outstretched, the walls of the houses on ei- 
ther side can easily be touched. There are also a few 
streets a little wider than the first named, but I must say 
only a very few. 

Horses and wagons are never seen in the city, and the 
people who never go from home do not know what a horse 
looks like. Do you wonder how the people get along with- 
out horses and wagons? Well, they use little boats called 
gondolas. A gondola is long and narrow, with a flat bottom. 
One man rows it, using one oar, and always standing at the 
stern of his boat. He is called a gondolier. It is very in- 
teresting to watch the gondolier as he guides the little 
boat, turning corners as swiftly as a driver turns a street 
corner with horse and buggy, never once running into an 
object. 

Notes of warning are called out continually as they 
glide along, and you are impressed with the thought of 
their carefulness. We hired a gondola for three hours, and 
did not get out of it during that time. The gondolier did 
not understand a word of English, so we could not talk to 
him; but we knew well enough what he meant when he 
stopped every once in a while. We shook our heads, No, 
no, and motioned for him to go on, when reluctantly he 
moved forward. You see Italians like strong drink, and he 



120 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

always pulled up in front of a saloon. When he could 
stand it no longer he did as he pleased and stopped for the 
drink, leaving us seated quietly in the boat. 

Gondolas are all painted black, and most of them have 
cabins which serve to shield the passenger from sun or rain. 
They are very comfortable boats to ride in, and one does 
not get tired of skimming over the water. There is one ca- 
nal larger than any of the rest, which is known as the 
Grand Canal. The water in it is deep enough to float large 
sized vessels, and many of them stop there to load and un- 
load freight, and also to take on passengers for other ports. 
The water was perfectly calm, and our ride was interesting 
and enjoyable. 

Venice is a very interesting city to visit, for there are 
many public buildings, such as the arsenal, which contains 
a museum of interesting objects, and Saint Mark's church. 
It alone would keep one occupied many days if he exam- 
ined closely every object of interest in it; for it was con- 
structed of the spoils of many buildings in almost every 
country in the far East. It has marble columns and panels 
dating back to the fourth century. It has been said that 
"St. Mark's body was brought to Venice secretly, from 
Alexandria, and placed in a vault in the chapel." We do 
not know how much truth there is in the guide's story; but, 
be that as it may, the church is a wonderful structure, and 
its panels, columns and mosaics are well worth examining. 

Hundreds of pigeons have their nests in the cornice of 
St. Mark's, and no one dare drive them away. They ruin 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 121 

the beautiful molding, and one cannot help but wish it were 
different. The pigeons are quite tame, for they come 
down and sit upon the head, shoulders and hands of any 
one who will feed them. Some one bequeathed a certain 
sum of money for the feeding of the pigeons, and for years 
and years feed has been furnished them from the interest 
money. I am very fond of pets; so it pleased me greatly 
to see them come down by the hundreds for the food which 
was thrown them. 

The streets were usually crowded with a set of lazy 
looking people, and we had a good chance to see them as 
we walked up one street and down another. There were 
many little shops where cooked victuals were on sale; in 
the windows could be seen crisp fried fish, and at the doors 
were large iron kettles filled with steaming hot boiled pota- 
toes. Those articles were sold at reasonable prices, and 
I'm sure it was a convenience for the class of people who 
were too lazy to cook for themselves. The Italians are 
said to be a dirty set of people, and I am made to believe 
there is a good deal of truth in that saying. 

By the time our party was ready to leave Venice we 
felt quite well acquainted with every street and canal, and 
to this day we look back with pleasure to the time when we 
visited the city of one hundred and fifty canals. 

Our mind is now turned toward Athens, a city in 
Greece. Once again passage on a steamer was taken, for it 
proved to be the only way by which we were able to 



122 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

reach that place. There were seven of us now, and the per- 
sonal conductor besides; yet not any of us had ever met be- 
fore. 

Trieste is an Austrian seaport town, and from there we 
sailed. The sea was as calm as a river, and sailing was de- 
lightful. Our first stopping place was at the Island of 
Corfu, where the anchor was cast and four hours spent in 
waiting for passengers. The whole company desired to go 
ashore, and after .making proper arrangements with the 
boatmen were taken to land, where carriages were procured 
and a long drive in the country taken. 

Oranges were plentiful in that country and little boys 
ran after the carriages just as fast as they could, wanting to 
sell their fruit. The party bought as many oranges as they 1 
desired, thinking the little fellows would discontinue the 
chase; but we were mistaken, for they followed on for 
miles, proving to be little nuisances. 

Sea voyages are very tiresome, so the change was en- 
joyed by all, and the time spent on the steamer did not 
seem so long after tne ride. 

Piraeus is the port of Athens, and is six miles from the 
city. Carriages had been ordered ahead, and we found 
them waiting at the landing. It took but a few minutes to 
settle ourselves in them, and we found the ride over the 
clean, broad, shaded road more agreeable than the rocking 
motion of a steamship. By this time you must surely know 
I am a lover of land, and prefer it to water. Reaching the 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 123 

city in an hour after, we were driven to a hotel on one of 
the principal streets. 

The hotel was new, and the appearance pleasing. 
Many guests were there from different parts of the world, 
and every one seemed intent on seeing the sights of 
Athens. Very little time was spent in resting, for there 
was too much to be seen to spend time idly. Just in front 
of our hotel was the great public square, and at stated 
times the band played, bringing together crowds of people. 
Across the square from the hotel was the royal palace, 
built of beautiful white marble, and surrounding it were 
the palace gardens. 

The language and customs of the people were different 
from those of other countries, and a guide was hired to take 
the entire party to places of interest as well as to talk for 
them. Each person was therefore privileged to ask ques- 
tions, which he answered according to his best knowledge. 
The climate was mild, quite like that of Italy, and the ex- 
ercise which walking gave kept us as warm as at home in 
the months of July and August. 

Athens is not a city I should desire to have as a per- 
manent place of residence, and we did not go there expect- 
ing to select a home; but we went to visit the city where 
years and years ago a great man introduced the Gospel. 
He was "of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a 
Hebrew of the Hebrews." Who was that man? Ah, Paul! 
Yes, you think rightly; but he was not always a Christian; 
no; he persecuted them at one time, for you know he stood 



124 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

by and watched the stoning of Stephen, that faithful Chris- 
tian man. If he had been a follower of Christ, such cruelty 
would not have been countenanced. Shortly after the 
stoning of Stephen the Lord called Paul, he was converted, 
and his boldness for the new cause was marvelous. Paul 
was an educated man, and able to talk to learned men 
wherever he went; and there was no end of Christian work 
for him to do. 

The people in those times had kings to rule over them; 
so when Paul came around and told them of a person who 
was greater than their king, "one Jesus," it troubled them 
greatly. They were so enraged when Paul told about Jesus 
that it was feared the people would take his life. So he 
was sent away by night, and the place they took him to was 
Athens, the very city I've been writing about. 

In Paul's time Athens was known all over the world as 
a city of great learning and one that paid great attention 
to the worship of the gods. In every direction could be 
seen temples, altars and other sacred buildings. 

Mars' Hill is the place where the learned men took 
Paul, "saying, May we know what this new doctrine where- 
of thou speakest is? Then Paul stood in the midst of 
Mars' Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in 
all things ye are too superstitious." He had no fear of 
man, but gave them the truth without one bit of polishing. 
We stood on Mars' Hill, and called to mind the time when 
this great man was there preaching to the pleasure-loving, 
idol-worshiping Athenians. All around us were the ruins 
of the great temples of the time of Paul. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 12 J 

Paul left 'Athens after this, and since then his great 
sermon has been read and reread; and these days many- 
people turn to Christ through his wonderful preaching. 
Children, do you love the meek and lowly Jesus of whom 
Paul spoke? Think of it, my little readers, and may the 
Lord help you to be little workers for him. 

All was not pleasure and joy while in Athens. Sick- 
ness comes to us whether at home or abroad, and many sad 
hours were spent at the bedside of the one who is very dear 
to me. The fever, which is so common in that country, 
fastened itself upon him, and the outlook seemed sad in- 
deed to me. Many were the tears shed, and many were the 
prayers sent to the Father above, from the heart which 
seemed too heavy to perform its function; but the dear Fa- 
ther heard the prayers, and it was his will to raise the 
stricken one, so that the journey might be completed; and 
to-day we bless his name. 

The time had come for us to leave Athens, and we 
were all taken back to Piraeus, where we took ship for 
Smyrna. Three hundred miles were to be traveled on this 
trip, and then another rest. The wind blew quite hard at 
the start of the journey, and a rough voyage seemed to be 
in store for us; but we decided bad weather could be en- 
dured a couple of days, for soon rest would come. The 
wind had a splendid chance to blow, and after getting out 
into the open sea our little ship rolled and rolled, more 
than was agreeable to the poor creatures who were inclined 
to seasickness, and no doubt they wished for land; but the 
seasickness passed off after a while, and then the hollow- 



128 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

* 

eyed people came forth from their staterooms to see what- 
ever was to be seen along the way. 

We passed an island and a city called Chios. Do you 
remember that Paul, on his journey, passed this very same 
island too? He did not stop there, because he was very 
anxious to reach Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost. Well, 
we did not stop either; our plans were to go right on, as we: 
were on our way to Jerusalem too. 

Sitting on deck was more agreeable to the passengers 
than remaining in the stateroom, so almost all of the time 
was spent on deck, even when the wind blew hard. One 
grew tired sitting all the time, so by way of change we 
walked back and forth. One time when we were sitting 
quietly a scream for help was heard; quickly every one of 
us rushed to the side of the ship, and there in the water be- 
low was a man. A sailor had been furling a sail — rolling it 
up — when, without a moment's warning, a strong gust of 
wind took him out to sea. 

Life-buoys were fastened here and there along the rail- 
ing of the ship, placed there to be used in case of necessi- 
ty; that time had come, and quick *as thought my husband 
cut the cords that bound one and immediately threw it far 
out in the water — toward the unfortunate man. By this 
time the excitement on board the ship was great. Other 
passengers cut loose life-buoys, and, strange to say, threw 
them out in quite a different direction from that in which 
the poor fellow was. The first buoy, however, was carried 
by a wave to the man. Almost breathless we stood watch- 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 120, 

ing him as he reached out and grasped the canvas-covered 
coil of cork. When his arm and head had been placed 
through it our breath came easier, for there was a possibili- 
ty now of his being saved. 

The steamer was stopped as soon as possible, and the 
anchor cast out to steady her, but by that time the man was 
far away, and he looked like a mere black speck in the dis- 
tance. The captain stood by the railing of the ship, and in 
loud tones called to the unfortunate man to be brave and 
hold up, for soon help would come to him. 

Three brave sailors manned one of the ship's boats, 
and when it was lowered faithfully and diligently rowed to- 
ward the dark speck in the distance. Everybody on that 
steamer watched the men, as nearer and nearer they drew 
to the object. What if he should drown? Just at that mo- 
ment the unfortunate one was reached, then taken into the 
boat, and their faces soon after were turned shipward. Ev- 
ery dip of the oars brought them closer and closer to the 
ship, and oh how glad we were when at last their voices 
were heard near by. Steps were lowered, but the sea was so 
wild that every time the little boat came alongside of them 
a wave dashed it away. Finally they were successful, and 
soon after the dripping wet sailor stood before us. 

The sailors who had gone to his rescue had great diffi- 
culty to get aboard the ship, and at times it seemed as 
though their little boat would surely be dashed to pieces. 
The sailor whose life had just been saved saw the perilous 
condition of his comrades and made a move to go to help 
them, but the captain seeing this in stern tones ordered him 



130 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

to go to his quarters. The man obeyed, but very reluctant- 
ly. The rest of the men came aboard shortly afterward, 
and once more quiet reigned. 

I think I shall never forget with what sorrow we 
watched the poor fellow in the angry deep. His black hair 
and white face are still in my mind as we saw him floating 
along in the water, and his cry of distress still rings in my 
ears while I am writing this to you. 

The language of the wet sailor was strange to us, and 
yet I knew he was unselfish. How did I know it? Be- 
cause he had a desire to help his comrades when he in turn 
saw them in peril. A bruised body and dripping wet 
clothes were no hindrance to him; all was cast aside, and 
self was out of the question. 

My little readers, can you not learn one good lesson 
from the conduct of the poor, half drowned sailor on the 
Mediterranean Sea? Yes, I believe you can. What is it? 
That of unselfishness. Help those who help you. Is that 
enough? No; no; go still farther; help those who are in 
distress, no matter whether they ever did a favor for you or 
not. Remember that deeds of kindness are never forgot- 
ten. Don't do acts of kindness for the reward; but because 
there is much love in your hearts for humanity. Cultivate 
a kindly disposition while young; and, believe me, you will 
be happier for it in after years. 

Smyrna was reached at last, and just as the steamer 
reached the landing a large caravan of camels, about seven- 
ty in number, put in an appearance. A donkey with a man- 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. I 3 1 

upon his back led the caravan, and they were all joined to- 
gether with a rope, the leader holding tight to one end of 
it. They moved along slowly in single file, looking quite 
awkward with the heavy burdens upon their backs. Cam- 
els are said to be patient and enduring. In case of a scarci- 
ty of water they are able to go without it for from eight to 
ten days. Horses and donkeys could not endure crossing 
the desert, but camels can, because their feet are cushion 
like, and therefore enlarge when placed upon the ground, 
making traveling easier for them when going through the 
sandy soil. 

Smyrna is one of the cities which was spoken of in the 
Book of Revelation, and there one of the Seven Churches 
of Asia was located. A busy crowd of people were upon 
the streets, and in almost every direction dogs were seen in 
every attitude. One of the distressing things to me was 
the abundance of fleas which hopped upon us, biting as 
they went. We desired to keep away from dogs, but their 
home had been in Smyrna long enough to have the city 
well stocked with the little pests, and strangers were not 
long in finding it out, for, whether near by or far away from 
a dog, you were sure to be pestered. . 

The streets of Smyrna are narrow and dirty, with pools 
of disease-breeding water standing here and there upon 
them. The houses are not very large, and from the outside 
have an uninviting appearance. The dress of the people 
seemed odd, and indeed so did everything we looked at. 

In walking over the city we saw many Mohamme- 
dan mosques, and near them was a tall, slender tower 



I32 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

from which a priest called the hour of prayer. Now those 
towers are called minarets, and the priest is a muezzin. 
"Allah-el-Allah" is called in loud tones, and all the faithful 
ones bow down and pray; no matter whether they are buy- 
ing a bill of goods or on their way to the mosque. We 
have seen them upon their knees on board of steamers, and 
they seemed not one bit afraid of attracting the attention of 
the tourists who stood looking on. Do you believe those 
people pray to be seen of men? We wondered about it, 
and since we have no right to judge we leave the matter 
with them. 

Writing about Mohammedans brings to mind an inci- 
dent which will no doubt interest you. On board the 
steamer was an ugly old man who had two wives and sever- 
al children with him. They did not occupy staterooms, but 
took up their abode upon the deck, and. were known as 
deck passengers. The women did not sit upon chairs, as 
did the rest of us, but flat upon the floor. As a shelter 
from the wind and the glances of the passengers an umbrel- 
la was used. We tried hard to peep under the covering to 
get a glimpse of the women's faces, but that privilege was 
never granted us, for the umbrella was sure to come be- 
tween us. The old man walked back and forth for exer- 
cise, and the children ran to and fro before us; but the 
women never stirred from their first sitting place. 

The wind blew very hard and the air was quite chilly 
even to those of us who were warmly clad. The children 
wore neither shoes nor stockings, and their clothing was of 
the thinnest kind of cloth. Their feet were pink with cold, 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 33 

and they had a season of crying as a result. The father 
was displeased, and raising a heavy stick which he carried 
let it come down upon the cold feet and ankles of the chil- 
dren. What a cruel act! And of course that kind of treat- 
ment brought forth cries louder than ever. In angry tones 
he scolded in a language we did not know, and quiet 
reigned when the sobbing little ones were taken under the 
umbrella with the women. 

A guide accompanied us everywhere we went and 
talked for us, and as a party we kept him busy. 

One beautiful, clear day we all went to Ephesus, anoth- 
er noted place of Bible times. The city once had a port 
and landing place for vessels, and its location at one time 
was such as to command great commerce; but these days 
the city is gone, and no port is to be seen; instead there are 
marshes which breed fever and disease, and every one who 
visits there fears to remain long lest the disease germ be 
taken into the system. 

The people of Ephesus were given to the worship of 
idols, and not far from there was a temple called "the tem- 
ple of Diana." Now Diana was a goddess, and the people 
thought she had come down from heaven; and they imag- 
ined she had the power to watch over all of their streams, 
and their wealth too. Well, in this temple were many 
beautiful things, for the wealthy people had beautiful gold 
and silver images made and placed there iri honor of the 
great goddess, "whom all Asia and the world worshipeth." 
Each year there was a great display made of the images, 
for they were carried in a procession so that everybody 



134 LETTERS TO TH-E YOUNG. 

could see them. The making of shrines and images be- 
came a great business, and many people were engaged in 
the work, and they grew rich from the proceeds. Paul was 
a missionary in the true sense. He never failed to tell the 
people wherever he went to believe on the Lord. You 
know from Athens he went to Corinth, and from there to 
the city I have been telling you about. 

We read that he found disciples at this place and that 
he began asking them questions. He said to them, " Have 
ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" And they 
told Paul that they had never heard of such a thing before. 
Immediately Paul told them they should believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Quite willing were they to accept what 
Paul had told them, and after that were baptized. Then 
Paul laid his hands upon them, and about twelve disciples 
— quite a body of workers for the Lord — received the Holy 
Ghost, and after this they talked and prophesied. 

The city was full of wickedness, so there was a splen- 
did chance for Paul and the disciples to work; and very 
earnestly and faithfully they did work. When Paul began 
to preach the image-makers became alarmed; so much so 
that there was a great stir among them. A man by the 
name of Demetrius, who was a silversmith, became very an- 
gry. He called together the other workmen and sympa- 
thizers, and they, too, were angry. There was a wonderful 
time, "and the whole city was filled with confusion." They 
were not quieted until the town clerk talked to them. 
Don't you think there must have been a great time in Eph- 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 135 

esus then? And don't you think Paul was a wonderful man 
to stay two years in a city like that, persuading the people 
to turn from their idols? For "all that dwelt in Asia heard 
the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." Yes, 
he was a powerful preacher, and the Word of God grew and 
prevailed because of Paul's preaching. 

The Lord does not countenance wickedness; so there 
came an end to the prosperity of Ephesus. Years and 
years ago the city and temple were destroyed; after which 
they were never rebuilt. Their ruins were covered up with 
mud and dirt for years, and so completely were they cov- 
ered that no one knew exactly where their location was. 

About twenty-four years ago a gentleman by the name 
of Wood hunted and dug until he found the ruins; then he 
worked faithfully until the temple of Diana was excavated. 
Now visitors have the pleasure of standing on the marble 
floors of the "temple of Diana of the Ephesians." 

Instead of Ephesus, there stands a dirty little village 
called Ayasalouk, and here and there in the village can be 
seen marble columns and other pieces of fine marble taken 
from the once beautiful temple. The trip was an interest- 
ing one to us, because we knew that at one time Paul was 
in this very same country, and perhaps stood right where 
we stood. 

Our stay at this place was not very long, for it was 
near train time, and we were compelled to go with the rest 
of our company. We tramped over the hills and among 
the ruins of Ephesus until we had gone eight miles. We 



136 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

were tired, and rest was welcome. A little before dark we 
were safe in Smyrna again, ready for a warm meal and a 
good rest. 

Soon after this we left Smyrna for Jaffa. This time we 
had a distance of perhaps eight hundred miles to travel, 
and the voyage took five days. Many times we wished 
more of our traveling could have been upon land, and yet, 
when we think of it, many pleasant days were spent upon 
the sea, even though it was rough and stormy at times. 

Our company consisted of Americans and English peo- 
ple, some from our own State, — Illinois, — some from New 
York. I must say that the most agreeable people of the 
company were Americans. 

We took passage on the steamer Vesta, and Smyrna 
was left behind; we were started on our five days' journey 
to Jaffa. The voyage was pleasant and the scenery varied, 
for we passed many islands. Our boat stopped a short 
time at the Island of Cyprus, another one of Paul's mission- 
ary points and also the native place of Barnabas, who, hav- 
ing heard the bold speeches of Peter and John, sold his 
land "and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' 
feet." Barnabas is frequently spoken of in the New Testa- 
ment, for he was a good man and " full of the Holy Ghost 
and of faith;" and he, with Paul, made many missionary 
tours through this same Island of Cyprus. 

About three hundred Greek and Armenian pilgrims 
wanted to be taken aboard at this place; but there were too 
many of them, the captain thought, so he took some -and 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



37 



left the rest to wait for another ship. They made so much 
noise we felt almost sure there was some, disturbance brew- 
ing; but it proved to be only their earnest way of talking, 
for they seemed peaceable enough. 

Each year hundreds of them make a pilgrimage to Je- 
rusalem; they go there to enjoy the Easter ceremonies. 
Many of them walk from Jaffa to Jerusalem with peb- 
bles in their shoes, or bare-foot. If some great sin has been 
committed, they take upon themselves some torture which 
may bring about suffering to the flesh. 

The Vesta carried passengers who came from many 
parts of the world, — merchants, tourists and pilgrims, — 
some on their way to Jerusalem, others to Damascus, and 
still others to Egypt. There were ever so many Turks on 
board, and right outside of our stateroom were a number of 
Turkish women and children. There was a sofa in our 
stateroom by the window, and I often sat there listening to 
their strange language. I tried hard to see their faces, but 
that seemed out of the question, for the women were veiled, 
which is a custom among them. Occasionally the veil was 
thrown back, but just as soon as there was the least suspi- 
cion of any one looking at them it was hurriedly pulled 
down. The women who are seen with uncovered faces are 
considered bold. 

The women End children were deck passengers, and 
during the trip stayed there close by my window. They 
had plenty of bedding which was very clean and nice look- 
ing. At night they slept upon it, and in the daytime used 
it to sit upon. The men kept baskets well filled with the 



I38 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

finest of oranges, and no doubt there were plenty of good 
things besides for them to eat. The women wore large 
earrings in their ears, and the prevailing fashion among 
them was to stain the fingernails black; and thinking to add 
to their looks they put a streak of black under the lower 
eyelid. 

One of the Turks had several women under his care, 
and among the number was a young girl whose father and 
mother were dead. She did not want to leave her home in 
Constantinople, but the man who had her in charge took 
her regardless of her wishes. This man was an uncle to the 
girl, and therefore had a right to do as he pleased; but it so 
happened that she never reached Damascus, the place 
aimed for. 

There was great confusion among the Turkish women 
one night, and everybody on board the Vesta was aroused 
from slumber. Overhead there was an unusual amount of 
walking and talking, and above all could be heard the stern 
voice of the captain. We were very sure something had 
gone wrong, for the confusion lasted several hours and the 
captain seemed to have great trouble in quieting the peo- 
ple. After a while they settled down and we fell asleep. 
The next morning we learned that the young girl had dis- 
appeared during the night. All search seemed in vain, and 
after finding her clothing upon deck they concluded she 
had jumped overboard. Surely her Damascus trip was 
ended, and sad indeed must have been the heart of the poor, 
motherless girl who found a resting place in the Mediterra- 
nean Sea. That event brought sadness to our hearts, ajid 




Woman -with Veiled Face. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 141 

yet we had a strong desire to know more of the life of the 
poor Turkish maiden; but there was no need of dwelling 
longer on this subject, and therefore we cast it aside for 
more cheerful thoughts. 

The weather was fine almost all of the trip, and much 
time was spent on deck watching the waves chase each oth- 
er as we dashed along. Watching waves seemed like a triv- 
ial thing to do, but when passengers must depend upon 
themselves for amusement they are often intensely interest- 
ed by the very smallest thing, especially when nothing is 
seen but sky and water for miles and miles and miles. 

There are few secure harbors along the Mediterranean. 
Vessels always cast anchor out from shore from half a mile 
to a mile, and passengers as well as cargo must be taken 
ashore in small boats. If the sea should be boisterous the 
vessels are compelled to lie by until a calm; then discharge 
the cargo. That seemed to be our fate at Beyrut, for on 
reaching the port there was a stiff breeze which resembled 
a gale; and instead of stopping only a few hours we re- 
mained until the day following. The heavy sea twisted the 
Vesta and caused her to drag the anchor a little. We did 
not enjoy that part of it, for a restless, uneasy feeling in 
our stomach made us think of seasickness, which came 
very near following. Some passengers went ashore at Bey- 
rut because it was the end of their journey, and others went 
for a change of scene. As we were not of the venturesome 
kind we decided to remain where we were until the next 
stopping place was reached, and that would be Jaffa. 



142 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

Jaffa seemed very far away when we first thought of 
taking a journey through Palestine; but each day shortened 
the time until less than twenty-four hours remained, and 
then the next thing we knew the city was in view. The 
tourists commenced to talk about the dangerous landing 
and wish it were over with; and we of course were among 
the number. 

Almost every one going to Jerusalem goes to the port 
of Jaffa. It is a very dangerous landing, because of its 
rocky coast. There are large, black rocks extending far 
out in the sea, and when the waves run high the little boats 
are dashed upon them, and all are lest. Sometimes ships 
are obliged to go on to the next port without landing a 
passenger or discharging the cargo. 

There was so much noise and confusion at the landing,, 
almost enough to scare a timid person. Boatmen crowded 
around the passengers and shouted at the top of their voic- 
es, each one trying to see how many passengers he could 
get, just like the cabmen at depots in our cities. I kept 
away from the noise as much as possible, and found a good 
hiding place in the stateroom, where they were not allowed 
to go. There I stayed until almost all the passengers had 
gone ashore. 

There was a flight of steps on one side of the steamer, 
held in place by ropes, and quite a thick rope was used for 
a railing. The steps were used only by the passengers, and 
when needed no more by them were drawn up and fastened 
to the side of the ship. Those steps were somewhat shaky, 
for every time a person went down one step the whole 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 43 

flight took to shaking. Oh, how it made me tremble! for it 
seemed as though it were loose and would surely come 
down, and the passenger along with it. Sometimes the 
little boat was at the foot of the steps (for I have told you 
it was necessary to go ashore in small boats), and some- 
times it was far away from them; so there was a quick 
movement needed if you were to be successful in getting in 
before a wave washed it away. 

The boatmen are strong looking fellows, and the great 
sinews stand out on their arms so plainly that every one can 
be counted if you desire to do so. Their shirt sleeves were 
rolled up above the elbow, and no shoes were upon their 
feet. To see them is to impress one with their strength. 
One by one the gentlemen and ladies passed down the 
steps, each keeping his feelings to himself. Our turn came, 
so with weak and trembling knees we went down, keeping 
our eyes upon the boat which was tossing and pitching at a 
rapid rate at the foot of the steps. It seemed almost out 
of the question to step into it. Just as the attempt was to 
be made one of the Arab boatmen took me, and without 
much of an effort seated me in the little boat. The trans- 
fer was sudden, yet I shall always feel grateful for the kind 
act. Very cautiously the men rowed, passing between the 
rocks which were seen more plainly as we drew nearer and 
nearer the shore. No wonder all passengers dread the 
Jaffa landing, and no wonder many lives have been lost in 
landing when storms were raging. 

Strong men are always glad when the ordeal of landing 
at Jaffa is over with. Is it any wonder then that timid 



144 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



women rejoice over the fact that there is only one Jaffa 
landing? 

You can imagine we were rejoiced to be on solid 
ground again, and when the guide took us to the hotel we 
retired to our room; and there on bended knees we thanked 
our kind heavenly Father for his protecting care over us. 
Our hearts were full of thankfulness, and tears of gratitude 
filled our eyes. Though far, far from home, it was a pleas- 
ing thought to feel that the Lord was with us all the way. 




CHAPTER VII. 




Jaffa. — The Careless Camel. — Bible Characters who lived in Jaffa. — 
Jonah's Temptation. — On the Way to the Holy City. — An Arab and 
his Plow. — Rai7ileh. — Lydda in the Distance. — Leprous People Beg- 
ging. — Leprous People of Bible Times. — Camp-fire in the Cave. — Je- 
rusalem. — Our Room. — Solomon's Disobedience. — Tower of David. — 
The Stubborn Donkey. — Mohammedan Cemetery. — Mount of Olives. 



jAFFA is built upon a hillside facing the sea, and the 
first glimpse of the flat-roofed stone houses, stand- 
fW$$ ing out as they did in the clear sunlight, is apt to 
cause one to pronounce the city beautiful; but wait until a 
walk through the narrow, dirty streets is taken, and such a 
thought as beautiful vanishes from the mind. A light 
shower of rain had fallen just before we arrived there; the 
Slthy condition of the city was quite disagreeable, and it 
took away the desire to tarry long there. 

While leisurely walking through one of the principal 
streets and feeling we were in no particular danger, except 
that of slipping down, we heard the guide call out, "Watch 
out!" I looked up, and to my surprise saw a camel loaded 
with orange boxes. The animal was very close to me, and 
a knock over the head seemed the next thing, for the box- 
es hung down, one on each side of him, and spread half 
way over the street. I thought quickly, and acted immedi- 
ately, which means that I stooped down and the loaded 



I46 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG, 

orange boxes passed over my head. That act saved me 
from being walked over by the great, clumsy animal. That 
event did not discourage us, so we walked on and on. 

We saw such odd looking little stores, dark and dirty. 
If a person desired to make a purchase it was done by 
standing out on the street and talking to the merchant who 
sat upon the floor of his store with legs crossed. What 
would you think if you saw shoemakers, blacksmiths and 
barbers all engaged in their special line of work, sitting up- 
on the streets working with a will? That was no uncom- 
mon sight, but always an amusing one to us. 

Oranges and lemons were plentiful in Jaffa, for there 
were several very large orchards near the city. We were 
there in the season to see the beautiful yellow fruit on the 
trees, and then to enjoy eating some of it. Florida oranges 
are fine, but I believe the Jaffa oranges are sweeter and 
more finely flavored. 

But I must not spend too much time in telling you 
what we saw, for. we are now in the Holy Land, and that 
brings to my mind the Bible characters who at one time 
walked those streets; for you know we are now writing 
about a very, very old city. Probably you can call to mind 
some of the people who lived there in Bible times, for I'm 
sure you have been studying about them in Sunday school. 

You remember "Simon a tanner" who lived in Jaffa? 
Well, his house is pointed out to strangers, and is now be- 
ing used as a mosque (house of worship). And you know 
Peter went on the housetop to pray. So in these days peo- 
ple go up on the top of that house and pray. Guides tell 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 147 

you a good many things in the course of a day, and one 
cannot always believe what they say. In all probability 
the location of this house is the same as the one which Si- 
mon lived in; but we are doubtful about the house. 

I presume every girl and boy knows something about 
"Tabitha" or "Dorcas." She also lived in Jaffa; and you 
know we read she "was full of good works, and almsdeeds." 
One 'day she took sick and died, and her body was pre- 
pared for the tomb. Peter was not very many miles away, 
so he was sent for. Upon his arrival he was taken to the 
upper room where the lifeless body of Dorcas lay. Can 
you imagine the great sorrow of the people? "All the 
widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and 
garments which Dorcas made while she was with them." 
And then what did Peter do? Why, he performed a great 
miracle, for he brought the good woman back to life again. 
That was a happy time, and there was real joy in that 
house. Everybody in Jaffa heard of Tabitha's sickness, 
death and restoration to life, "and many believed in the 
Lord." 

Nineveh was a very wicked city, and the Lord was 
greatly concerned about it; so he called a man by the name 
of Jonah to go there and preach to the people. This man 
did not want to go, for no doubt he thought the work 
would be too hard; so he started to a place of his own 
choosing, and went to Jaffa, took ship there for Tarshish, 
paid the fare, went down in the ship and went to sleep. 
Do you believe he was altogether happy? We shall see by 
and by. 



I48 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

The Lord knew what Jonah was doing, and what was in 
his mind too, for you know nothing can be hid from the 
Lord, no matter how hard one tries. And this man found 
that out to his sorrow, for pretty soon "the Lord sent out 
a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest 
in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken," and the 
sailors were dreadfully scared; but Jonah knew nothing 
about it, for he was fast asleep. . As the storm grew in 
strength the seamen became more and more alarmed, and 
finally they called out, "Arise, call upon thy God." By 
this time the poor man was sure he was the cause of the 
stormy voyage. So Jonah said, "Take me up, and cast me 
forth into the sea." But they did not want to treat their 
passengers so unkindly; so they rowed and rowed, to see if 
they could possibly get to land with him and all be saved. 
But there was no use trying; the sea was too wild. Then 
they tried another plan; they called upon the Lord, — and 
very pitifully, too, — but that failed. "So they took up Jo- 
nah and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased 
from her raging." 

Now poor Jonah was in the water; but the Lord was 
not going to let him perish, so he prepared a great fish 
which swallowed him. Still the Lord was with him; and 
while in the great fish Jonah thought and "prayed unto the 
Lord his God." The Lord hears prayers and answers them 
if he thinks best; so this time poor Jonah's prayer was an- 
swered, and "the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited 
out Jonah upon the land." After that the Lord called him 
the second time, and this time he obeyed. He went and 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 149 

preached in Nineveh, and "the people of Nineveh believed 
God." 

When Solomon decided to build a house for the Lord 
he sent word to "Hiram, king of Tyre," to send to him cun- 
ning workmen and also "cedar trees, fir trees, and algum 
trees out of Lebanon." The king was pleased to do as Sol- 
omon bade him, and as soon as it was possible sent a work- 
man who was qualified to work in anything they saw proper 
to put him to. The timber was sent "in floats by sea to 
Joppa," and from there it was carried up to the city of Je- 
rusalem, where the temple was to be built. 

You will see by the instances which I have been giving 
that Jaffa must be an interesting place to visit, especially 
for those who love the Bible and its teachings. But our 
minds were turned toward the city of Jerusalem, and as 
soon as arrangements were made we started thitherward. 

There were no signs of a railroad between the two cit- 
ies then; so we had the privilege of choosing for ourselves 
whether we should take the trip in a carriage or on horse- 
back. Our party preferred the carriage, thinking it to be 
the easier way of traveling over a rough, stony country. 

Now the vehicle the guide called a carriage proved to 
be a very, very uncomfortable thing to ride in. At home it 
would have been called a covered spring wagon, and a very 
poor one at that. Sometimes we wondered whether it real- 
ly had springs at all. But the guide called it a carriage, 
and we followed his example and called it a carriage too. 

Jerusalem is between thirty and forty miles from Jaffa, 
and that meant an all day ride for us; and with the hope of 



150 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



reaching our destination that night we started. The morn- 
ing was beautiful and the air fresh and bracing, so the 
change from sea to land travel was thoroughly enjoyed. 
Here and there along the road were cypress and sycamore 
trees, and occasionally an orange grove was passed. The 
sweet odor of the orange blossoms filled the air, and the 
perfume came to us while passing along. The beautiful 
yellow fruit could be seen hanging on the trees, and though 
it was too far away for us to touch, yet it was not too far 
to be admired. 

There were many beautiful flowers growing along the 
highway, which seemed to be bowing a welcome to us. 
Our desire to pluck them was very great, but we rode on, 
finding it impossible to stop to gratify the desire, as the 
further we rode the more flowers we saw. 

There were strange things along the way which inter- 
ested us greatly. For instance, farmers were plowing their 
fields, and they had the oddest looking plows you ever saw. 
I'm not sure I shall be able to describe them; but you may 
imagine how they look when I tell you that a piece of 
wood, perhaps three feet long, is sharpened at one end, and 
at the other end a crosspiece is attached, which serves as 
handle. Now the sharpened end of the stick is the part 
which turns up the soil; and the furrows were not very 
deep, you may be sure. My husband had a desire to try 
plowing with an Arabic plow, so the first opportunity which 
was offered he put his hand to the plow and had a trial of 
it. The old Arab stood by, looking very much amused at 
the American's awkward attempt. The new plowman felt 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 5 1' 

as though he would not like to make his living that way, so 
tarried but a little while. 

Oxen, horses, donkeys and camels were used to draw 
the plows. Many times we saw a horse and an ox, or a 
horse and a donkey hitched together. But a great, tall, 
awkward camel seemed to be one of the strangest sights, — 
a great big camel, a little plow, and way behind all a poor 
little man. But you can imagine how it looked, and I'll 
leave you to smile over the thought of a camel being 
hitched to a little one-handled plow. 

After riding ten miles we stopped for luncheon at a 
small village called Ramleh. A great tall square tower 
stands near the village, and almost every stranger climbs to 
the top of it; for from it may be seen the country round 
about. The steps show that many feet have trodden upon 
them, and the walls are badly cracked, showing to us that 
age was on its side. The village of Lydda, six miles dis- 
tant, could be plainly seen from the top of the tower, and 
it seemed hardly possible that one's eyes could take in such 
a wide stretch of country at one glance. 

You remember Lydda was the little village where Peter 
visited some of the saints. There he found a man by the 
name of ^Eneas who had been in bed eight years with pal- 
sy. "And Peter said unto him, yEneas, Jesus Christ mak- 
eth thee whole; arise, and make thy bed. And he arose 
immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw 
him, and turned to the Lord." 

This is also the little town to which two men were sent 
to find Peter after the death of Dorcas. You will see that 



152 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

from now on there will be very few miles passed over 
which wil 1 not have Bible history connected with them; and 
illustrations of Scripture may be gathered at almost every 
point. 

Sitting by the roadside were a number of leprous peo- 
ple, both men and women. Now leprosy is a disease of the 
skin, and it eats away the flesh very much as does cancer;' 
it is loathsome and incurable. According to law, every 
person afflicted with that disease must leave home and 
friends and live by himself, or with others who are suffer- 
ing in the same manner. 

When the people saw us every one of them arose and 
commenced begging. Arms with flesh eaten off and hands 
which were fingerless were held up to excite our sympathy. 
Oh, how horrible! for in some cases the flesh had been eat- 
en away from the elbow to the wrist; the feet were without 
toes, and the faces in a distressing condition. The disease 
had gone to the lungs of some, for they coughed hard. 
The sight was touching, and our hearts ached for them. 
Small wooden pails were used to carry the money which 
was thrown them by benevolent people. This money was 
used in buying the necessaries of life for the whole compa- 
ny, for they lived together as one family among the ruins 
of old houses outside of the city, as they are not allowed to 
come inside of any city. 

There are many leprous persons spoken of in the Bible, 
and I shall mention a few of them. First, then, was Mir- 
iam, the sister of Aaron and Moses. One day she and 
Aaron spoke against Moses, which fact displeased the 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 53 

Lord; and as a punishment to Miriam she "became leprous, 
white as snow." The brothers felt dreadfully bad to know 
of their sister's affliction. "And Moses cried unto the 
Lord saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee." Aft- 
er having seen people with leprosy once you may not ex- 
pect soon to be rid of the sickening sight, for it will surely 
remain in your mind. And now, while writing this to you, 
the sight of those poor creatures comes to me, and I do not 
wonder that Moses pleaded for the healing of Miriam. 

Naaman, you remember, was a great man; but he had 
the leprosy. Now this man's wife had a little captive 
maiden working for her, who seemed greatly interested in 
the leprous man; so one time the maiden said to her mis- 
tress, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is 
in Samaria; for he would recover him of the leprosy." 
Some one told the great man what the little maiden had 
said; so the king of Syria sent a letter to the king of Israel, 
and with it sent many pieces of silver and ever so many 
pieces of gold, and also several changes of raiment. 

When the king of Israel received and read the letter, 
he could not understand why it had been sent to him, and 
concluded that the king of Syria wanted to quarrel with 
him. He was therefore very much displeased. 

Elisha, the man of God, heard of the letter and knew 
what it meant; so he sent to the king, saying, "Wherefore 
hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come to me, and he 
shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman 
came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of 
the house of Elisha." Well, Elisha told Naaman what he 



154 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

should do to be made whole; but the great man grew very- 
angry and went away in a rage. Naaman's servant said, 
" My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great 
thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather 
then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?" 

After this Naaman did as Elisha had directed, and he 
was made clean of the dreadful, humiliating disease. The 
little captive maiden was far from home and friends, and 
no doubt was sad many times because she could not see her 
mother and father; yet, in her loneliness, she did not forget 
to let her light shine for good; she was thoughtful of those 
around her, and because of her thoughtfulness Naaman was 
brought to visit the prophet, and then to know of the God 
who rules over all. 

Gehazi was the servant of Elisha. He did wrong by 
asking Naaman to give something for his healing, which he 
knew was not in accordance with the desire of Elisha's 
heart. Then, when questioned about the matter, he told 
an untruth, and the doom pronounced upon Gehazi was 
this: "The leprosy therefore of Namann shall cleave unto 
thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from 
his presence a leper as white as snow." The Lord does not 
countenance wickedness in any shape or form, and punish- 
ment is in store for all who do wickedly. 

Children, are you ever tempted to be untruthful? Oh, 
be careful! Remember the Lord knows all; he hears you 
and sees everything you do. When you do wickedly it 
grieves him, and is it right for you to grieve the best friend 
you have? No, no. 



LETTERS TO. THE YOUNG. I 55 

It was late in the afternoon when we left Ramleh, so 
we rode only a few hours before daylight disappeared. 
Riding was not very pleasant after dark, for the road over 
the mountains was rough and stony. 

After traveling several miles, a small village was 
reached, where we rested a short time. There is an inn or 
lodging place at this point, and many persons stop there all 
night. It was a dirty looking place, for the lower part of 
the house was used as a stable for horses. Some travelers 
prefer camping out and I'm pretty sure I would rather 
camp out than sleep in such a place as that; but our inten- 
tions were to sleep in Jerusalem that night, and that being 
the case we rested but a short time. 

Our guide was unusually slow in having the horses 
brought up, so a few of us walked on up the mountain. 
We had walked but a short distance when dark clouds were 
seen overhead; by and by rain came down, and a thorough 
drenching seemed in store for us. Shelter was found, how- 
ever, under the wide-spreading branches of an olive tree, 
and there we stood until, to our sorrow, it began to leak, 
and the water commenced dropping upon us -uncomforta- 
bly fast. But by this time a rumbling noise was heard in 
the distance, and our carriage came in sight. In a very lit- 
tle while after we were seated in it, about as uncomfortably 
as could be imagined. Some of the party had walked far- 
ther on, so were not taken in at this point. The darkness 
seemed more dense now and the road dreadfully bad. 
Away in the distance a bright light was seen, and men 



I56 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

could be seen moving about quite lively before their camp- 
fire. 

Highway robbers came into our mind, but there was 
not time to harbor such thoughts long, for on getting a lit- 
tle closer to them we found two of our traveling compan- 
ions who had gone into a cave for shelter from the rain. 
For amusement and warmth they had, Arab like, built a 
fire. The men were full of fun, and their antics were quite 
grotesque. You can scarcely imagine how funny they did 
look, dancing before the blazing fire. Of course all 
laughed, for we could not help ourselves. Their shelter 
from the rain was a good one, and there was no danger of 
its leaking either. All were settled in the carriage at last, 
so we drove on. 

As we neared the top of the mountain another camp- 
fire was seen, but this time it was that of a Greek caravan 
which had stopped for the night. There were ever so many 
men, camels and donkeys, and the bright fire looked quite 
cheerful, for we were pretty well chilled; but we did not 
stop, for if Jerusalem was to be reached that night it was 
necessary for us to keep moving. 

The roads continued bad, very bad. Many places 
there were great, deep gullies washed out; the wagon 
wheels dropped into them with a thud, and at times it 
seemed as though the wagon would surely go over. Some 
of the party concluded to try walking, that they might 
keep warm — a good thing for them to do. I'm very sure 
the footmen had a more pleasant time than we who were 
riding. At times we were almost thrown from our seats by 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



•■57 



the jolting, and I clung to the back of the seat in front of 
me. I did not hesitate to pronounce it the worst ride 
which I had ever taken. Oh, how we did wish for star- 
light or, better still, moonlight; but neither stars nor moon 
could be seen. The guide and drivers felt the need of re- 
freshments very often, and when another coffeehouse was 
reached they stopped while we all waited, sitting in the 
-wagon, trying to be patient. After all, the men did us a 
favor by stopping, for just as we were ready to start a break 
in the clouds was seen, and to our delight the beautiful 
moon came forth and lighted our way. It was just what we 
had been wishing for, and from there on the gullies could 
be seen plainly, and groping in darkness was at an end. 

Somewhere on that road our Savior joined two disci- 
ples who were on their way to Emmaus, "which was from 
Jerusalem about three score furlongs." 

Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains; so the last few 
miles of our ride was up hill. The pleasure of seeing the 
city by moonlight was granted us, and it seemed to me the 
moon never did shine more brightly than on that night. 

The guide said, "We are now not far from Jerusalem"; 
and on looking in the direction in which he pointed the 
dim outlines of the high walls were seen. "Is it really the 
walls of Jerusalem?" we asked, and no answer was needed, 
for shortly after the carriage stopped and all stood at the 
Jaffa Gate, one of the entrances to the city. The guide 
took us to the hotel; and a tired company of tourists we 
were. The ride over the mountain had chilled us to the 
bone, but there was no fire to greet us. The meal which 



I58 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

had been prepared was likewise cold, and when a cup of tea 
was passed us it too was disappointingly cold and seemed 
to have been far from fire an hour or more. What a recep- 
tion! Will you be surprised to know that thoughts of home 
and loved ones came thick and fast? 

It was midnight, and when the servant took us to our 
room, imagine our feelings on beholding the flooring to be 
of stone and iron bars across the one small window. A shud- 
der passed over us, and we thought of a prison cell. Two 
beds were in the room. Upon examination we found there 
were two linen sheets to sleep between and a very poor, 
thin comfort for covering. The outlook for getting warm 
was not very bright, and I still have recollections of shiver- 
ing until almost morning. 

The window I made mention of seemed entirely out of 
place so close to the ceiling, and it was always a wonder to 
me why the builders placed it so high. And then, why the 
iron bars? When alone in my room one day the thought 
struck me this way, "I'll see why the window is so high." 
And forthwith the wash-stand was moved under it, and in a 
short time after I stood upon it. Even then I came near 
being too low; hut by standing on my tiptoes' and then 
stretching my neck until it seemed the leaders were 
strained I succeeded in looking out. I did not see people 
passing, but instead found the window looked down upon a 
great pool. It was well filled with water which had run in- 
to it during the rainy season. The pool, it is thought, had 
been built by Hezekiah who was king of Jerusalem many, 
many years ago. Since the pool was all that could be seen 



^ 

£ 




LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. l6l 

from the window and I was not anxious to remain longer in 
such .a strained position, I decided to go where a better 
view could be had of it. My curiosity had been gratified, 
and I never looked out of that window again. Soon after 
this the guide came, and we all started out to see the city. 

Solomon's pools are only a few hours' ride from Jeru- 
salem and may be seen on your way to the city of Bethle- 
hem. They are three in number, and all of them are of 
great size. We learn there is one which is considered finer 
than the rest, and its dimensions are one hundred and 
ninety-four yards long, forty-nine yards wide at the top, 
and sixty-nine yards below, and is at places forty-eight feet 
deep, and hewn in the rock. 

You have a very good picture of one of the pools in 
the engraving, and when looking at it just think that an- 
cient Jerusalem was partly supplied with water which had 
been stored away in it, and that probably the gardens, the 
orchards, and the trees of all kinds of fruits, which Solomon 
speaks of having planted, were watered by them, for we 
read, "I made me pools of water, to water therewith the 
wood that bringeth forth trees." 

There was so much to be seen in and around Jerusa- 
lem. We scarcely knew what place to visit first, but the 
guide settled the matter for us by taking the party to a 
Mohammedan church, the Mosque of Omar, as it is called. 

I wonder how many of you know anything about Solo- 
mon. Well, I'll tell you. Solomon was the son of David, 
and a very wise man. "And Solomon's wisdom excelled 
the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all 



102 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

the wisdom of Egypt, and he spake three thousand prov- 
erbs: and his songs were a thousand and five." He was 
such a wise man that the people and the kings went to hear 
him. 

The Lord had said to David one time, "Thy son whom 
I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build a 
house unto my name." Well, Solomon decided to build 
the house, and it proved to be a wonderfully fine building. 
Its foundation was of costly stone, and there was a great 
deal of brass used; and when the inside of the building was 
finished it was overlaid with pure gold. After the temple 
was finished it was dedicated to the Lord, and Solomon 
prayed a long, long prayer. 

Well, the Lord heard the prayer of Solomon, and said, 
"If thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, 
in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to 
all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes 
and my judgments: then I will establish the throne of thy 
kingdom upon Israel forever. But if ye shall at all turn 
from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep 
my commandments and my statutes which I have set be- 
fore you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them; 
then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given 
them: and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, 
will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb 
and a byword among all people." 

Years rolled on, Solomon served the Lord faithfully; 
but by and by he grew weak, sinned against the Lord, and 
worshiped gods made by hand. He did just what the Lord 



ETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 163 

forbade him to do, and the result was the utter destruction 
of the temple. Not one stone was left; upon another; and 
the Mohammedan church — the Mosque of Omar — now 
stands on the site where once stood Solomon's Temple. 

The Lord was kind to Solomon after all, for the king- 
dom was not taken from him, but was taken from the hand 
of his son. Remember that punishment is always sure to 
follow evil-doing. 

The Mohammedans do not allow any one to go into 
their mosques with shoes on, so each one of the party had 
to remove his shoes and put on a pair of slippers. The in- 
terior of a Mohammedan mosque is considered sacred, al- 
most too much so for the feet of Christians' to press. A 
few years ago Christians could not gain an entrance at all, 
but of late they are allowed the privilege. A guide always 
accompanies them, however, and takes pleasure in pointing 
■out the interesting objects which the dark, gloomy mosque 
contains. 

There is an old tower near the Jaffa Gate called the 
"Tower of David," and it is supposed to be the only build- 
ing standing which the Lord may have gazed upon. 

The streets of Jerusalem are so narrow that carriages 
and wagons cannot be used. Men, camels and donkeys car- 
ry all the burdens; and it is just as necessary for pedestri- 
ans to be on their guard in that city as it was in the city of 
Jaffa, for camels and donkeys would just as lief walk over 
you, as they never turn out of the road. 

Here is an amusing incident which I saw while stand- 
ing upon the veranda of our hotel. There was a market 



Ic"4 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

place just opposite the hotel, and I stood watching the peo- 
ple sell their cauliflower, onions and other vegetables. 
Purchasers were not very numerous that morning, and the 
sales were rather dull. One old woman was sitting near 
her stand of vegetables almost asleep. Far behind her was. 
a man trying very hard to get his donkey to turn in a direc- 
tion different from the one in which it persisted in going. 
Pounding over the head with a club seemed to make no im- 
pression upon the feelings of the animal, and the stubborn 
donkey budged not an inch. By and by there was a change 
of treatment; the little animal was taken up bodily and 
turned around. Immediately he started off, not caring- 
where, and ran right over the old woman, upsetting her and 
scattering the vegetables all around. Oh, how surprised she 
looked to find herself tumbled in a heap; and when she £>e- 
held the donkey a look of, Oh, well, one need expect noth- 
ing else from you, came into her face; then quietly the 
scattered vegetables were picked up. The vegetables were 
not injured, and the only thing distressing about the whole 
affair was that the market woman lost her nap, for after- 
wards she seemed quite wide awake. 

In the city of Jerusalem? Yes, and how strange! It 
would be impossible to try to describe our feelings, for we 
knew that somewhere in that vicinity holy men of old had 
lived and walked and preached. We were aware of the 
fact that the city had been destroyed many times since 
Christ's time, and that the streets which he was wont to. 
walk upon were covered up with many feet of earth. Yet, 
notwithstanding that fact, we felt wonderfully blessed in. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 165 

being allowed the privilege of even being in the land where 
Christ and his disciples loved to dwell. Solomon reigned 
over Jerusalem forty years. God told Abraham to offer his 
only son for a burnt offering on Moriah, and there the Tem- 
ple of Solomon was built. I could spend many hours writ- 
ing about the patriarchs of old, but must hasten on and tell 
you just a little more about the city. It is surrounded by a 
high wall pierced with many gates. Every one who goes 
into or out of the city must pass through one of these 
gates. A few years ago every one of them was closed aft- 
er sundown, but no attention is paid to locking them now, 
and you are allowed to go in and out any hour of the night. 

Many of the stones in one portion of the wall are very, 
very old, and the Jews think they were used at one time in 
the foundation of their ancient temple, and that is as near 
as it is possible for them to get to the Holy of holies; so 
every Friday — and other days too — they gather together 
and weep and wail over the downfall of their beloved Zion. 
That place is always known as the "Jews' Wailing Place." 

There is a Mohammedan cemetery outside of the city 
wall; the graves are about two feet high and are covered 
with a white coat of plaster. There are no tombstones and 
no names to tell the passer-by whose remains lie beneath 
the sod. Possibly the relatives know by the location where 
their dead are buried, but I'm pretty sure no one else 
could tell. One afternoon we had walked a long distance, 
and on our return to the hotel passed through the cemetery 
I've just told you about. We were very tired, so leaned 
against a tomb to rest a few minutes. Several Moslem men 



l66 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

passed us, muttering to themselves, and looking quite sav- 
age. We asked, "What ails them?" and the reply was, 
"They don't want their graves desecrated by Christian 
dogs." That was the first time we had been likened to a 
dog; and, fearing the compliment might be repeated, we 
arose immediately and walked away. The Mohammedans' 
love for a Christian is not great, and it was a little uncer- 
tain how many insults they might be tempted to offer if we 
tarried longer. 

Go with me now, my little readers, to the Garden of 
Gethsemane, to which place it is said Jesus often went with 
his disciples. We found it at the foot of the Mount of Ol- 
ives, surrounded by a low stone wall. A monk acted as 
guide and never left our side until the gate was closed 
against us on our departure. The garden is well kept. 
Flowers here and there with nice graveled walks make the 
place rather inviting to visitors who usually go there soon 
after reaching the city. There are several old olive trees in 
the garden, and it is thought they are the same trees under 
which the blessed Master wept and prayed. When we 
looked at them this saying of his came to our mind, "My 
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here, 
and watch with me." And he went a little farther, and fell 
on his face, and prayed. Oh, what a sorrowful prayer, for 
he said, " O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." 
Truly he was acquainted with grief. It is useless to at- 
tempt to tell you all of the instances connected with the 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 6/ 

scene, so we leave the garden and ascend the Mount of 
Olives. 

Somewhere on the Mount of Olives, after his resurrec- 
tion, Jesus was carried up to heaven. When David fled 
from Jerusalem he wept as he went up this same mount. 
Ezekiel tells us that "the glory of the Lord went up from 
the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which 
is on the east side of the city." Thus you see both the Old 
and the New Testament refers to Olivet; and could the 
stones be made to speak many a tale of sadness would be 
told by them. 




CHAPTER VIII. 




Bethany. — Bethlehem. — Rachel's Tomb.— The Shepherd Boy. — Ruth and 
Naomi. — Garden of Gethsemane. — Departure from Jerusalem. — Yo- 
sef — Jericho Road. — Ain-es- Sultan. — Morning Call. — Do7ikey Boy. 
— Dead Sea. — Along the Banks of the Jordan. — John the Baptist. 
— Bad Roads. 



IETHANY is perhaps two miles from Jerusalem. At 
one time it was the home of Mary, Martha and Laz- 
arus, a family whom Jesus dearly loved to visit 
when tired of the noise and confusion of the city. 
Sickness and death came to that family, and the brother 
was taken from them and placed in the tomb. When Jesus 
heard of their distress he said to his disciples, "I go that I 
may awake him out of sleep." And when the home was 
reached and the burial place of Lazarus pointed out "Jesus 
wept;" and at his command the stone was taken from the 
cave and Lazarus was brought to life, even though he had 
been in the grave four days. The unbelieving crowd saw 
Jesus had power- to make alive, and the result was many 
"believed on him." 

There was not much to be seen in the little village, — a 
church, a few houses, and very many beggars, — and as the 
day was well spent we all decided not to tarry very long, 
but to return to the hotel in the city of Jerusalem and rest, 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. l6g 

for every one of us was tired. Our tramps were always 
long ones, and at the close of a day rest was sweet. 

I presume there are but few of you who have not heard 
of "Bethlehem of Judea." It is spoken of as "Ephrath," 
and is known to be the birthplace of David and Christ 

We left Jerusalem by the Jaffa Gate, a party of eight- 
een, and every one mounted upon the back of a horse. 
Our company consisted of two Australians, seven English- 
men, two Germans, one Scotchman, and six Americans. 
Eight of the number were women. Not one of the party 
was under the age of thirty-five years. You will see that 
none of us were children. 

My experience in horseback riding was quite limited, 
therefore I did poorly. The rest were good riders because 
they had experience. We got along pretty well, and the 
practice of that day prepared us all for the many days of 
hard riding which followed. The desire to be upon my 
feet, rather than upon the back of a horse, was never quite 
overcome. 

Our horses seldom got out of a walk, because of the 
poor condition of the roads. Fast riding in Palestine is 
very seldom engaged in, and as a rule horses have their 
own way, regulating their gait to suit themselves. A num- 
ber of people were on the road, walking and riding don- 
keys. The animals were so small that when the riders' feet 
hung down they touched the ground, which sight amused 
us greatly. Our English sidesaddles were quite a novelty 
to them, and they scarcely raised their eyes higher than 
where the saddles were located. In their minds the Arabs 



1^0 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

were probably comparing the neatness of our saddles to the 
clumsy looking things used by them. 

Bethlehem is about six miles from Jerusalem, and those 
six miles seemed very long ones to us, for the road was 
hard to travel. The country was extremely stony, and we 
wondered how grain could find soil in which to sprout. 
Fields were passed from which enough stones had been 
picked to make a fence which was, perhaps, one mile in 
length and wide enough for several horsemen to ride 
abreast upon it. 

Before reaching Bethlehem a shower of rain came up 
and the guide took us into the tomb of Rachel for shelter. 
The tomb was well filled with Arab men and women who 
had gone there before us, and when we all appeared before 
them they scattered at a lively rate. Getting close to a 
party of Christians would no doubt have made them very 
uncomfortable, so they preferred to vacate. 

Many, many years ago Jacob and Rachel were making 
a journey to Bethlehem, and when but a short distance 
from the city "Rachel died, and was buried in the way to 
Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon 
her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this 
day." 

Long, long ago the pillar which had been set up by Ja- 
cob disappeared; but in its place stands a small white build- 
ing with a dome. It is by the roadside, and everybody 
looks upon it as marking the last resting place of Jacob's 
beloved wife. It is known all around as "Rachel's Tomb," 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 173 

and it was into this tomb that we were taken to escape the 
falling rain. 

During the reign of king Saul there was a man who 
was known as Jesse the Bethlehemite, and he had a large 
family of very fine looking boys. The Lord desired to 
make a new king to reign in the place of Saul, and one of 
Jesse's sons was to be the fortunate one. Samuel — and you 
know who he was? — was appointed by the Lord to go and 
anoint the new king. But poor Samuel was dreadfully 
afraid of king Saul, and said, "How can I go? If Saul 
hear it, he will kill me." But the Lord doeth all things 
well in every instance, and in that matter he was not slack. 
"And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to 
Bethlehem." 

One by one the sons of Jesse were looked upon, but the 
Lord was not satisfied with any excepting the very young- 
est, and he was a shepherd boy "ruddy, and withal of a 
beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon." Well, 
Samuel anointed him king to reign in the place of Saul, and 
David was the boy's name. I have often wondered wheth- 
er he ever thought such a high position would be given 
him. When the Lord desires workmen these days he is 
just as liable to call them from the humble walks of life as 
he did David, and remember he is watching you, and 
knows whether you will be fit for his work; and no matter 
whether you are a farmer's boy or a homeless bootblack, 
when the Lord is ready he will call you. 

This is, in a few words, the story of David the shepherd 
boy who was made king in the place of Saul. Well, David 



174 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

came to be a great man and everybody looked on him as 
such. He fought many battles, and in the "war between 
the house of Saul and the house of David he grew stronger 
and stronger." 

David had several sons and among the number was one 
whose name was Absalom, and there was no one who re- 
ceived more praise for his beauty than this third son of Da- 
vid, for we read that "from the sole of his foot even to the 
crown of his head there was no blemish in him." Absalom 
had a fine head of hair and each year it was cut and 
weighed, and the weight of it was astonishingly great. 
Now with all of his good looks — like many another young 
man — Absalom was wicked, for he conspired against David 
and stole the hearts of the people. The poor father was 
not aware of the deceitfulness of his son until "there came 
a message to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Is- 
rael are after Absalom," and then to escape the violence of 
the wicked son he "went forth, and all his household after 
him, and tarried in a place that was far off." Don't you 
believe that was a sorrowful sight when " David went up by 
the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up"? 
Just think of him hurriedly walking over the stones in his 
bare feet, and then think "all the people that was with him 
covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as 
they went up." Just think of the distress and heartache 
brought about by the action of one wayward boy. Even 
though the father is made to suffer yet he loves the son, 
and when David sent forth men to battle he gave this com- 
mand, " Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 75 

with Absalom." The sword did not cut him asunder, but 
we read that "Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule 
went under a bough of a great oak, and he was taken up be- 
tween the heaven and the earth: and the mule that was un- 
der him went away. And a certain man saw it, and told 
Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an 
oak," and that was the fate of a boy who loved self more 
than any one else. But how do you imagine David felt 
when tidings of the son's death were brought him? When 
the runner who brought the news was near enough to hear 
David's voice, he called out, "Is the young man Absalom 
safe?" And again we read that he wept; "and as he went, 
thus he said, O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! 
would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my 
son!" When it was told how the king was weeping "the 
victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the peo- 
ple." 

Young people are prone to be ambitious, and that is all 
right; but, dear young people, don't let your ambitious de- 
sires cause you to disobey father and mother and bring sad- 
ness and sorrow upon those who love you. Think of sor- 
rowing David, and then think of the beautiful son's final 
end, and may you learn from it what is becoming a child. 

The tomb of Absalom is before you. We do not 
know by whom it was built, but it is thought that it marks 
the site of the pillar which "Absalom in his lifetime had 
taken and reared up for himself, which is in the king's 
dale," and this tomb is in the valley east of Jerusalem. 



I76 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

The touching story of Ruth and Naomi comes to my 
mind while J write, and my heart goes out in sympathy to- 
ward those lonely widows who perhaps walked along the 
very road which we traveled over. The fields of Boaz were 
no doubt quite near to Bethlehem, and I think of his kind- 
ness to Ruth when he said, " Go not to glean in another 
field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my 
maidens;" and then later on he said, "Let her glean even 
among the sheaves, and reproach her not." Truly a good 
man was Boaz, and a deserving woman was Ruth. 

There lived in Nazareth a man by the name of Joseph, 
and a woman whose name was Mary. A law had been 
passed that all the world should be taxed, so " all went to 
be taxed, every one in his own city." Mary and Joseph 
traveled a long, long distance, and upon their arrival in the 
city found, to their sorrow, that there was no room for 
them in the inn. They were tired, weary and almost sick, 
and had no place to rest. Oh, what a trying time for them. 
While waiting to be taxed a child was born, a little baby 
boy; and his mother "wrapped him in swaddling clothes, 
and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for 
them in the inn." That seemed like a poor place for the 
tender infant, but the angels kept good watch over him. 
The name of the child was Jesus, and his birthplace was 
Bethlehem; and he proved to be the Savior of the world, 
for when he reached manhood he suffered and died that 
you and I might live. "The Church of the Nativity" is 
said to cover the spot where Jesus was born; but we shall 




Absalom's Tomb. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



179 



never know for certain how much truth there is in the say- 
ing. 

At the close of the day spent in Bethlehem the guide 
informed us we had ridden almost twenty miles, and with 
astonishment we said, 
" No wonder we were tired 
and weary." Arrange- 
ments had been made for 
us to start the following 
day on a long journey, 
which would take twenty- 
one days to complete. 
Our home was to be in 
tents, and every mile of 
the road was to be trav- 
eled over on horseback. 
Horses and mules were to 
carry baggage, beds and 
bedding, dishes, cook 
stove and food. Trunks 
were left behind, because ^ 
much baggage was not al- 
lowed. 

From now on we shall 
call our guide "the drag- 
oman," which means in- 
terpreter. Mr. Heilpin 
spoke seven or eight languages with ease. He was a tall, 
well-built man with commanding appearance. We were im- 




A Dragoman. 



ISO LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

pressed with the thought that he was quite able to take care 
of a large party of dependent tourists. 

We were to have left Jerusalem at an early hour in the 
morning, but a heavy rain storm hindered us from starting 
at the appointed time. After the rain slackened a little all 
started to the place where the horses stood saddled and 
bridled. Just as we were about to mount, the rain came 
down wonderfully fast, and there was somewhat of a desire 
to turn back and take shelter in the hotel. Mr. Heilpin, 
the dragoman, would not hear to it, and when he gave the 
order to go, we murmured not, but went. The outlook was 
not very pleasant: to turn back was out of the question, 
and a ride of twenty miles was to be made before reaching- 
our camping place in the evening. We moved on, bearing 
very sad looking faces and trying hard to make the best 
of it. 

Our journey took us by the Garden of Gethsemane and 
over the Mount of Olives, the same road over which Christ 
rode on the back of a colt, on his way to Jerusalem. We 
never expected to see the Holy City again, and at this 
point we turned, looking back, and in our hearts we said, 
Farewell, City of David, farewell. # 

The rain had ceased by that time, and the sun came 
forth bright and hot; only for a little while, however, for in 
a very short time the rain came down as fast as ever. My 
rain cloak seemed to protect me but poorly, for by this 
time a good deal of water had gone through my clothing 
and it was pretty well soaked. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. l8l 

Noontime came. We stopped in a dirty, dreary look- 
ing cave to eat our luncheon. The servant who attended 
to our wants spread a cloth upon the ground, and upon the 
cloth was placed the food which had been prepared in Je- 
rusalem. All of the party but myself sat around the cloth. 
I stood up and ate what little was needed. As soon as pos- 
sible I went out and stood in the sun, which was again 
shining. Between the sun and wind I was made more com- 
fortable, and by the time we were ready to start my cloth- 
ing was quite dry. After luncheon we mounted our horses 
and were again on our way to Jericho. 

Somewhere on that road perhaps the good Samaritan 
came across the poor man who had fallen among thieves, 
who had been stripped of his clothing, wounded and left 
half dead. The road is considered unsafe yet, for thieves 
still act unkindly toward those who travel over it. 

Yosef was the name of the servant who helped with 
luncheon. He was quite thoughtful of those in the party 
who called upon him, and always willing to do their bid- 
ding. Much of the time he was found at my side, for I 
seemed to be the one who needed him. He was a great 
fellOw to talk, and he chattered away leaving me to guess 
at what he was saying. His English was limited, and I 
knew no Arabic at all, so it kept both busy trying to think 
out what the other had said. 

One time Yosef looked up in my face and called very 
cheerily in Arabic, "Ain-es-Sultan, Ain-es-Sultan," and 
while calling pointed with his finger off in the distance. 
Repeatedly I said, "I don't understand you, Yosef." And 



1 82. LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

again the same " Ain-es-Sultan" was called out, and he mo- 
tioned with his head, as much as to say, Yes, there it is, 
away over there. But what was it? That was the ques- 
tion. "What does Yosef want to tell us?" we asked the 
dragoman. " He is trying to tell you we shall soon be at 
the Prophet's Fountain," — the very one which Elisha threw 
salt into. It is said that all the water around there is poor; 
but we know the water in the Prophet's Fountain is splen- 
did. 

Our camping place was on a high knoll near the flow- 
ing fountain, and when the camping place was reached a 
beautiful sight met our gaze. Before us were eleven white 
tents, and floating above one of them was the American 
flag, — the Stars and Stripes. As my eyes fell upon it I 
called out to the American portion of the party, "Look at 
the old flag; how I wish it might fly above our tent." 

It took but a short time to dismount, but a much long- 
er time to stand straight after being upon our feet. Men 
know nothing of the torture women must endure sitting 
sidewise on a saddle. But we got all right after a while. 
When a tent was assigned us we forthwith went to it; and 
there, sure enough, the old flag was flying above it. The 
sight of it made me homesick. Yes, I thought of America, 
so far away, and my eyes filled brimful of tears. There was 
no time for tears, so I brushed them away and in a very 
short time after we were all called to dinner. 

After dinner was over the dragoman informed us that 
he had a chest which he slept upon every night, and that 
our watches, money and valuables should be handed to him 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. I83 

for safe keeping. Furthermore he said: "In each tent will 
be found a long piece of rope; use it in tying your loose 
baggage to your bedstead. Your clothing, boots and shoes 
you will put in as safe a place as possible." When he fin- 
ished his remarks we seemed spellbound; but we were at 
Jericho, and we knew the reputation of the country was not 
any better than it used to be. The servants kept watch all 
night, and yet, notwithstanding that, the natives could have 
■crawled into the tents and taken everything within their 
reach if any of them had chanced to be around. 

There were nine sleeping tents, and each person had 
an iron bedstead with mattress, two linen sheets, one blan- 
ket, a white spread and one pillow with a case upon it; and 
every one of the tents was numbered. The number of ours 
was nine. All of the party seemed to have enjoyed the 
good, warm meal, and a little time was spent in talking of 
what had been seen during the day. But bedtime came and 
each one retired to his tent. After tying the baggage to 
our bedsteads, placing boots, shoes and clothing under our 
head and feet, we crawled into the little beds. Sleep over- 
came us, and in a little while we were in dreamland. My 
sleep was broken, for every movement outside of the tent 
caused my eyes to open wide, and much time was wasted in 
looking for the thieving Arab who never put in an appear- 
ance. 

Hyenas and jackals are numerous in that country, and 
during the nights they bark long and loud. Sometimes 
they seemed not very far from the camp. Very likely they 



^4 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG, 

would have ventured into camp; but a bright fire was kept 
burning, and seated around it were the watching servants. 

Early the next morning all hands were aroused by the 
rattling of tin pans which were in the hands of the servants. 
The banging noise was distressing to listen to, and we 
wished the pans were far enough away. Some were slow to 
rise, even with such deafening noise. But they soon 
learned that it was useless to even think of taking a second 
nap after the first banging of pans. Every morning from 
that on the deafening music was heard. Breakfast was al- 
ways ready for us, and no time was wasted in waiting. 

Our meals were usually very good. There was tea, 
coffee, bread, butter, eggs and omelette, — composed of 
eggs, milk and salt. Condensed milk was used for coffee; 
the butter was canned too; it was never fresh, but always 
very soft. A little of it went a great ways. Indeed, many 
times it was left untouched by us. We did not tarry very 
long after breakfast on the camp ground, for our horses 
were saddled and the dragoman waiting to take the party 
to the Dead Sea and the Jordan. 

The modern village of Jericho was passed through, and 
not a house was to be seen; nothing but Bedouin Arab 
tents. You know Jesus passed through Jericho on his way 
to Jerusalem. There Zaccheus lived, and you remember he 
was small of stature. He wanted to see Jesus when he 
passed by, but the crowd was so great that there was no 
chance for him; so he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed 
up a tree, and there he could see all who passed. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. !oj 

Our riding was usually done single file, for all through 
that country the roads are bad. The sun was extremely 
hot, and a nice shade would have been agreeable to all; but 
we could not choose the path, so we journeyed on and on. 

The people in that part of the country are not very 
thrifty, — more inclined to be lazy. They never plant trees, 
and I presume never think of gardening. 

Many thorn trees were to be seen as we journeyed on, 
and the dragoman told us that the crown of thorns which 
was placed upon the head of our Savior is supposed to have 
been made with thorns taken from the trees which grow 
there. Such long, pointed thorns! Oh, how sad to think 
of the tender flesh being pierced by them! Jesus was 
scourged, — severely whipped. That ought to have been 
enough suffering; but here came the soldiers with a platted 
crown of thorns, and placed it upon the tender head. Still 
not enough; he was nailed to a cross and then his side was 
pierced with a spear. Oh, what agony! The cup of sor- 
row was full. Christ drank it, and the will of the Lord was 
done. Children, do you know he died for you? Yes, for 
all of us. He has left us many good instructions and 
among them is this, " Pray that ye enter not into tempta- 
tion." 

As we neared the Dead Sea the country grew more 
barren looking. The ground in places was covered with 
salt and sulphur. No flowers were growing there, and not 
a bird could be seen flying around, so we pronounced it a 
desolate place because no living thing was in sight. If you 
look at the picture closely you may see a few small pieces 



I 86 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

of wood upon the ground, but not a blade of grass. I im- 
agine those large sticks which stand together are intended 
to have canvas thrown over them to be used by bathers, 
for travelers often bathe in the Dead Sea just for the novel- 
ty of it. Owing to the rain which fell fast the day we were 
there, not any of our party ventured in. We did not tarry 
very long, for there was but little pleasure in being at such 
a desolate place. 

The Arab who kept close to my side, so that assistance 
might be given when needed, did not ride a horse or don- 
key, but walked every step of the way. Arabs are the 
greatest fellows to walk I ever heard of, and they never 
seemed one bit tired when night came. The boy usually 
kept up with the horse, but occasionally he would hurry 
back, and at such times I heard him pounding something. 
My curiosity was at last aroused, and on looking back I be- 
held him hammering a piece of hard bread and breaking it 
in tiny little pieces. Now you may think we were sorry for 
the poor fellow, and that day instead of eating luscious or- 
anges for luncheon we gave them to him. It was surpris- 
ing to know how quickly they disappeared. After eating 
them he said, "Me very good donkey boy; backsheesh." 
We had orders not to give money, or anything else, to the 
servants, because they would give us trouble with their con- 
tinual begging. We found there was some truth in the 
matter, so from that time on nothing more was given them. 

The wind was blowing hard the day we saw the Dead 
Sea and the heavy water was in commotion. The waves 
rolled on the shore making quite a roaring sound. The wa- 







J' 




LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 89 

ter is intensely bitter and salty, and after having tasted 
some of it I felt sorry enough, for the bitter taste was in my 
mouth the rest of the day, and even now I almost shudder 
when thinking of it. 

You know this body of water is spoken of in Scripture 
as the "salt sea," "the sea of the plain" and the "east 
sea." Not a fish is found in its waters and the name Dead 
Sea seems fitting, for it is death to animal life. 

A ride of perhaps four miles brought us to the banks 
of the river Jordan, and there we dismounted and ate our 
luncheon. Oh what a relief to be upon our feet again and 
then to be under the shade of trees. The contrast between 
this resting place and the last one was great, for there ev- 
erything was dead; here were green grass and beautiful 
trees. 

Do you remember the Bible story of John the Baptist 
who preached in the wilderness of Judea? You know great 
crowds of people went from all parts of the country to hear 
him, for he told them something they had never heard be- 
fore. This man was very poor and wore the coarsest kind 
of clothing, which was camel's hair, "and a leathern girdle 
about his loins." He ate the simplest kind of food, consist- 
ing of locusts and wild honey. Though poor his ministry 
was successful, and many people confessed their sins and 
went down into the water and were "baptized of him in 
Jordan," the very river on whose banks we ate our noonday 
lunch. The people wondered "whether he was the Christ 
or not," and John, not desiring to receive any more rever- 



IQO LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

ence than belonged to him, said to the people, "He that 
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not 
worthy to bear." In time Jesus appeared and desired bap- 
tism, but John felt too unworthy to baptize such a person- 
age as Jesus, so refused to administer it, saying, "I have 
need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" 
Well, they talked the matter over and the Savior said, "Suf- 
fer it to be so now," and the good preacher complied with 
the wish; after which John and Jesus came "up straightway 
out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto 
him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, 
and lighting upon him." 

The Jordan is mentioned many times in the Scriptures, 
and we feel that every part of it is sacred. We cannot tell 
where John baptized the blessed Master, or where Elisha 
told Naaman to wash seven times that he might be healed 
of the leprosy, but we do know that the river Jordan which 
we saw is the same river in which John baptized Jesus and a 
great multitude of people. 

The name of no other river is known so far away as 
that of the Jordan. And why should not Christians of all 
ages love to read and talk about it? Thousands of Chris- 
tians all over the world, and of every nation, have made 
pilgrimages to Palestine expressly to stand on the banks of 
the river, or, better yet, to bathe in its waters. It was 
enough for us to stand on its banks, to see the trees in full 
leaf, and to sit upon the beautiful green grass and partake 
of the good things of earth. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. I93 

The picture which you see is a good representation of 
the river, and unless you view the stream itself you will 
never see a more perfect picture. 

We left the banks of the sacred stream after luncheon 
and rode back to our camp at Jericho. While riding along 
the Arab guards entertained us by showing how wonderful- 
ly well they managed their horses. A motion of the hand 
gave the horse to understand that a circle was to be made, 
and with surprise we watched^ them make it. The horse 
and rider understood each other well. 

Our dragoman joined in the ride, and it seemed an easy 
matter for him to outride his Arab friends. He had a 
swift-footed Arabian horse, and at times it seemed that its 
feet scarcely touched the grass as it moved along. A gen- 
tleman of our party joined the ride, and it was plain to see 
that he was not used to managing a horse as well as the 
rest. 

When near a small village women were seen carrying 
upon their heads great stacks of wood and brush. What 
drudges! we thought; and while watching them walk along 
we wondered whether the poor creatures ever became dis- 
couraged with their lot, whether they would be willing to 
exchange the life of drudgery for one of comfort and ease 
if a way were opened to them. Down deep in my heart I 
felt wonderfully blessed in being allowed to live in a land 
where women are on an equality with men and not beneath 
them, as is the case in Palestine. 

On reaching camp in the evening the dragoman in- 
formed us that we had ridden twenty-four miles during that 



194 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

day. You may well imagine we were surprised to hear it, 
and you may know we were exceedingly tired and anxious 
for rest. Two nights were spent at the same camping place, 
but the dragoman said we should take a long ride the next 
day; consequently all must arise early in the morning. 
Sweet sleep did not come to me that night and there was 
no chance to nap in the morning, for the tin can pounding 
and bell ringing aroused us at four o'clock. Oh, what a 
noise! Wedding serenaders in the country are the only 
ones who are able to make music to compare with it. 
Quickly we arose and hastily dressed, then made our way 
to the dining tent; and while we partook of the morning 
meal our tents were taken down and packed upon the back 
of mules and donkeys. There they stood, loaded with 
camp fixtures, and before the camp ground was vacated 
cook stove, bed and bedding and large boxes of dishes, and 
victuals were all packed for the journey. The order to 
mount our horses was given, and as soon as possible we 
were upon their backs. 

Camp had been at the foot of the mountain, so up, up, 
up we went, right from the start. The roads were in a ter- 
rible condition, and sometimes it seemed almost impossible 
to cross the deep gullies which the water had washed in 
them. 

Three servants accompanied us now instead of one, as 
heretofore, — Yosef, Mustaff, and an Abyssinian who was 
extremely black. These three kept very close to us while 
riding along, so that assistance might be rendered when de^ 
sired. I have a distinct recollection of seeing some very 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 1 95 

large holes in the road, which the servants were compelled 
to fill with stones while we were waiting, so that we might 
pass over. I also call to mind times when one of the men 
led the ladies' horses while the second one held them on, 
and very carefully did the trusty animals step until over 
those dangerous places. The gentlemen of the party re- 
ceived help too; but one servant was all that was needed, 
for there was no chance for them to slip off of the back of 
their horses. 

We were in the saddle long before sunrise, and after 
riding an hour or more the top of the first hill was reached 
and a short stop made. In looking back we saw the sun 
coming from behind Mount Nebo; and oh what a beautiful 
picture of the Dead Sea and the winding Jordan! Time 
was too precious to be spent in looking long at one picture, 
so we rode on, and that day proved to be the most trying 
day's ride of the whole twenty-one. 




CHAPTER IX. 




Strange Kind of Fuel. — The Village Oven. — Women's Work. — Fresh 
Bread. — The Little Baby. — Landmarks. — Bethel. — My Faithful 
Friend. — A Trying Time in the Saddle. — Sinjal. 

N some towns and villages wood is very scarce and 
the fuel consists of grass and dried manure. When 
riding through a village one day we noticed some- 
thing sticking against the low stone wall, and we nat- 
urally wondered what the strange decoration could be. On 
getting near the wall, to our utter surprise, we found it to 
be manure which women had made into cakes and placed 
there to dry. Some day it would be cast into the oven with 
the bunches of grass. 

In our Savior's time grass was burned; for we read, 
"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which 
to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not 
much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" 

The village oven was rather odd looking, being shaped 
very much like a large jug. There was an opening near the 
ground for fire, and a hole in the top for the escape of 
smoke. 

When bread is made by mixing flour and water into a 
thin batter, it is baked by being poured on the outside of a 
heated oven. This makes thin, wafer-like cakes. But 
when a stiff dough is made it is baked between two ii res 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. I97 

made of manure; and when baked in that way it is said the 
smell of manure is noticeable. We did not tarry long in 
that village, therefore escaped tasting the vile stuff called 
bread. 

Baking seems to have been women's work ages ago, for 
we have an account of Samuel telling the Israelites what 
they might expect if a new king reigned over them, as they 
greatly desired. After enumerating many things, Samuel 
said, "And he will take your daughters to be confectiona- 
ries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers." Then we read 
how "two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one 
shall be taken, and the other left." Grinding flour in small 
stone mills daily was woman's work, and making bread fol- 
lowed immediately after. But I have written enough to 
show that what we saw corresponded well with Bible ac- 
counts; and it greatly strengthened our belief in the Book 
of books. 

When we started from Jerusalem there was bread 
enough taken along to supply our wants till the city of 
Nazareth was reached; but by that time it was not only 
very stale, but mouldy too. When the fresh supply was 
given us you may be sure it was welcome. Our bread was 
baked in the city oven and wood used for fuel. There may 
have been plenty of dirt in the flour, but I am very sure 
there was no odor of manure about the bread. 

While riding from one camping place to another we 
passed very la'rge grain fields which were beautifully green. 
In one of those fields I remember having seen three per- 
sons — man, woman and baby — and they were one family. 



I98 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

The mother was working hard pulling weeds out of the 
grain and the father — lazy man that he was — rocked the 
baby;' for it was in a little homemade hammock. Two 
sticks had been pounded in the ground; to them the baby's 
cradle had been fastened, and it took but a slight move- 
ment to send the little one back and forth, — a very easy 
task for one so strong. And we thought the man would 
feel ashamed to have strangers see him sitting there em- 
ployed in that kind of work. But — do you know? — instead 
of being ashamed he seemed pleased. 

Fences are not seen in Palestine, but the limit of each 
man's land is known by what is called a landmark. It us- 
ually consists of a heap of stones placed at the corner of 
the owner's land. Persons passing through fields are not 
always aware whose land they are passing over. Especial- 
ly is it so if you are a stranger in the country. You know 
Ruth was a stranger in and around Bethlehem; and when 
she had permission from Naomi to go and gather ears of 
corn she happened to get "on a part of the field belonging 
unto Boaz." 

There are dishonest people all over the world. In the 
Bible we read of such characters, and we come to a passage 
like this: "Some Remove the landmarks; they violently take 
away flocks, and feed thereof." You see the heap of stones 
is taken away and nothing is left to mark the boundary 
line. 

At noon we lunched in the ruins of an old church in 
Bethel. There is where Abram and Lot stopped after leav- 
ing Mesopotamia. "And there he builded an altar unto 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 199 

the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord." "And 
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his fa- 
ther blessed him." To get away from the angry brother, 
Jacob fled from home. After traveling until tired and 
weary, he found a resting place. The sun was set, so Jacob 
concluded to remain where he was during the night. He 
had no bed, or pillow either; but " he took of the stones of 
that place and put them for his pillows, and lay down in 
this place to sleep." He had a wonderful dream; and pos- 
sibly you may call it to mind. Then Jacob was afraid; so 
he "rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that 
he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and he 
called the name of that place Bethel." 

Bethel was a poor village on a hill; the people were 
half naked, hungry looking creatures, and it seemed to me 
that all the men and boys of the village had made it a point 
to be in the ruins of the church that day. My luncheon 
was not enjoyed, for the sight of those hungry people took 
away my appetite. The dragoman did not offer them any- 
thing, for no doubt he decided it was utterly impossible to 
furnish food for hungry tourists and a village full of people 
besides. A bone was thrown to a dog which stood looking 
on; but the poor fellow lost it, for a gray-bearded Arab 
caught the animal, took it from him, and without one bit of 
embarrassment undertook the task of gnawing that bone 
himself. The dog showed signs of resentment, but no ac- 
count was kept of that, so the bone was never returned. 

The people there are a lazy set, and they almost starve. 
No attention is paid to farming or gardening, consequently 



200 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

food is scarce and clothing scant. I never waste sympathy 
on full-grown lazy people; but the poor, half-starved look- 
ing children and dogs I felt sorry for. 

After resting a while at this place the order was given 
to move on, and very soon after we were on the road trav- 
eling wearily along. My horse was a very gentle animal, 
and I had a kindly feeling in my heart for him. Horses in 
that country get along without a name; but I proposed my 
faithful friend should have one, so I called him "John." 
He was not a beautiful animal; oh, no! Really, he was the 
ugliest animal in the company; but I didn't care. His ears 
were short — looked as though they had been nipped with 
frost; then, in addition to that, they had slits cut in them — 
a distinguishing mark which his master had given him — 
and I, like his master, could always tell John from all the 
other horses. If by accident some one had taken him, I 
was sure to be unhappy till he was returned. 

John and I got along real well. He didn't care to trot 
along briskly, and I was very willing to let him do as he 
pleased in the matter. Well, to tell the truth, children, I 
was cowardly, and fast riding made me feel as though I was 
going to fall right off. Now, I hadn't one bit of a desire to 
get off of John's back suddenly, and the very thought of 
such a thing scared me; so we moved along in a lazy sort of 
a way. Occasionally a servant thought he would put some 
life in John by using a club; but I allowed no interference. 
We suited each other exactly, and I'm quite sure John 
missed me when the last day's ride was ended. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 201 

My saddle was a real good English sidesaddle, but, un- 
fortunately for me, it continually slipped out of position on 
the horse's back. At first thought it seemed to need tight- 
ening up; but after doing so several times we found that 
kind of doctoring proved to be of little account; for every 
time I took my position over went the saddle again. There 
was but little enjoyment in the ride that day, for my time 
was spent in trying to sit erect upon the horse's back. 
Hour after hour my distress increased, until it seemed hard- 
ly possible to ride longer. The continued strain weakened 
my back so that I could scarcely sit up. Walking would 
have been a pleasure; but such a thing was out of the ques- 
tion, for the company would ride faster than I could walk, 
and so leave me far behind. 

The day was far spent and it was drawing on toward 
sundown. Camp, they said, was not many miles away. 
Oh, how we wished it was only a few steps; but on we rode, 
with a strong desire to get to the place of rest as soon as 
possible. 

The company was somewhat divided that day. Some 
of them were away on ahead of us, and a few were quite a 
little distance behind. The road was very narrow, and so it 
was necessary to ride single file. There were rocks of all 
sizes in the road, and some measuring five or six feet in 
width lying just outside of the path. When only a few 
feet away from one of them my strength gave way, and the 
back which had served me so well all day refused to be 
tried any longer. Near by was my husband, and with trem- 
bling voice I said to him, "Please help me, or I shall surely 



202 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

fall, for I'm unable to sit here longer." He sprang to my 
side, and just in time to keep me from falling from the 
horse's back. Those great flat rocks came in use now, for 
my husband placed me upon one of them, and for a while 
I lay there with my face down. "Oh, what shall we do if I 
can ride no further?" I thought, " and so far from home and 
friends." Ah, home never seemed dearer than then; and, 
children, I was foolish enough to shed tears. But I want to 
tell you it doesn't pay to shed tears. It does not show 
bravery, and when sorely tried one needs to brace up. I 
brushed my tears away and took fresh courage; and let me 
tell you the Lord helped me do it. 

Our horses were anxious, to get to their resting place, 
so quietly they walked on. The ladies and gentlemen who 
were riding behind came along one by one, passing us on 
their way to camp, and they carried word that "Mrs. Miller 
has fainted." After resting a while we left the rock 'and 
together walked on to camp. When almost there the drag- 
oman met us saying, " I was just on my way to bring you 
in." 

You can imagine how glad we were when camp was 
reached, for there stood the tents, and there was the place 
of rest. The beds had been made nicely and I found rest 
upon one of them. Shall I ever forget that experience 
while passing through the Holy Land? I think not. 

"How could you stand such a journey?" has been 
asked me time and again, and as many times have I an- 
swered, "The Lord gave me strength according as I needed 
it;" for I was unused to hardships and not any stronger 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 203 

than the majority of women. It is quite necessary on a 
journey like that to be patient, uncomplaining and hot fret- 
ful, and the Lord is able to give us that kind of a disposi- 
tion if we call upon him. Many of us would have turned 
back to Jerusalem willingly, but there was no such thing 
as going back after having once started. Onward- was the 
cry, and if sickness came upon us we were carried along. 
If death should be the lot of any one a grave by the road- 
side would be the last resting place. Such graves were 
passed, and how sad we felt at the thought of some lonely 
pilgrim having been laid by the roadside. 

Each day some one of the women felt it almost impos- 
sible to go further; but it made no difference, they rode on 
and on, murmuring not in the least. 

I told you the roads were in a dreadful condition. The 
stones were so plentiful if was hard work to see the path 
much of the way. The horses walked with noses down, 
smelling as they walked along. In that way they found 
there truly was a path, and that other horses had gone over 
the same rocks. 

Many of the party had falls from their horses, but no 
one was hurt. All were so tired they scarcely knew what 
to do; but I was the only one who had given out. We had 
traveled thirty-four miles during that day and had been in 
the saddle almost eleven hours. 

Sinjal is the name of an Arab village, and on a high 
hill near by our tents were pitched that night. Owing to 
the fact that I was worn out, I saw nothing of the people or 
village. 



204 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

We were up the next morning early, not entirely rest- 
ed; indeed, very far from it; but when ready to mount our 
horses I was delighted to find the saddle had been adjusted 
satisfactorily, thanks to my husband, who had insisted up- 
on a change that I might not be compelled to ride in such 
misery another eleven hours. The fault lay in John; his 
back was not suited to the saddle, and the lack of flesh was 
supplied with padding; and ever after that I rode comforta- 
bly and never became exhausted again. All that day I was 
not able to guide my horse, because of extreme weakness; 
but faithful Yosef led^ohn, and silently we went on. 




CHAPTER X. 




Shiloh. — Jacob's Well. — Tomb of Joseph. — Shechem. — Samaria. — Gibe- 
ah. — Dothan in the Distance. — Fountain of Gideon. — Shunem. — 
Shunammite' s Son. — Nain. 



I HE country through which we passed was less stony, 
and the roads were more smooth and level. Horses 
and riders seemed glad for the change and enjoyed 
it immensely. Land was under better cultivation, for olive 
and fig trees were there, and everywhere were signs of 
thrift. 

When camp was reached a distance of twenty-two miles 
had been traveled. The tents were pitched at Shechem, 
but we took the road which leads to the old city of Shiloh, 
where a heap of ruins with broken columns was seen. Far 
back in history interesting things are told about Shiloh, for 
it was one of the foremost places of the Old World. 

The children of Israel set up a tabernacle there. Sev- 
eral of the tribes had not received their inheritance. At 
the suggestion of Joshua three men from each tribe were 
chosen and sent out to describe the land; and on their re- 
turn with the description "Joshua cast lots for them in Shi- 
loh before the Lord: and there Joshua divided the land 
unto the children of Israel according- to their division." 



206 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

The ark of the Lord rested at Shiloh many years. 
Now the ark of the Lord was the sacred chest which held 
the tables of the law, and while it was there feasts were 
held annually, and the people worshiped and offered sacri- 
fice unto the Lord. 

Not far from Shiloh lived a man whose name was Elka- 
nah; and yearly both he and his good wife Hannah went to 
"worship and sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts." Hannah 
grieved because she had neither sons nor daughters, and 
when they went to Shiloh to sacrifice she prayed long and 
fervently to the Lord, saying, " I will give him unto the 
Lord all the days of his life." 

Well, time rolled on and Hannah's prayer was an- 
swered; the Lord gave a little son to the faithful woman, 
and she called him Samuel, "because I have asked him of 
the Lord." The promise made by the mother long before 
had not been forgotten, and as soon as the child was old 
enough Hannah took little Samuel away to Shiloh and gave 
him to Eli, the high priest, saying, "I have lent him to the 
Lord; and he worshiped the Lord there." Children, don't 
you think the mother felt lonely going back to her home 
without the bright, prattling little fellow? Surely she 
missed him, but not a word of complaint was uttered. She 
said, however, "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord." Oh, how 
she praised the Lord, and her song of thanksgiving was 
long. I would like to tell you about Eli, who judged Israel 
forty years, and who, through neglect of duty in the raising 
of his sons, had to suffer the consequences; but it is time to 
leave the ruined city and go on toward our lunching place, 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 20/ 

which was at "Jacob's well." There were no trees to shel- 
ter us' from the noonday sun, so those who had umbrellas 
made use of them. All Christian people think of Jacob's 
well as being a sacred place, and we could not help but 
think of the Bible characters who once stood where we 
were then resting. Our mind went back to the time when 
Jesus was there, sitting upon the rim of the well and talking 
to the woman who had come to draw water. 

Jesus had been to Jerusalem during the passover sea- 
son, and while there had found men who were selling 
sheep, oxen and doves in the temple. Such desecration 
could not be tolerated, so he chased them all out; and after 
giving them some good lessons he journeyed on toward 
Galilee. He was weary from the long journey, and while 
his disciples went to the city to buy something to eat he 
sat and rested. Even though tired he did not fail to teach 
the Samaritan woman some good lessons. There he told 
her of the water of eternal life; and there he revealed him- 
self unto her, saying, "I that speak unto thee am he." Je- 
sus had a message for the Samaritans, and the woman 
carried it to them. At first it was hard to understand what 
Jesus meant. She pointed to the mountain which was not 
faraway and said, "Our fathers worshiped in this moun- 
tain: and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men 
ought to worship." But Jesus showed her plainly what he 
desired, and without waiting for the water pot, she went in- 
to the city and told what Jesus had said to her. Many 
went to see him; they insisted upon Jesus staying with 



208 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

them, and he was there two days. Before he left "many 
more believed because of his own word." 

A church was built over the well many years ago, but 
nothing is to be seen of it now. An arch which at one time 
covered it had broken away, and through the opening a de- 
scent of several feet was made, when the mouth of Jacob's 
well was reached. The company desired to taste the water, 
so by the help of Arabs who stood by, and with the use of 
pieces of rope tied together and fastened to an old can, 
their wish was gratified and each one tasted water from the 
well which had been dug in Bible times. 

The time of resting ended, and Jacob's well was left 
behind. Our next stop was to be made at the tomb of Jo- 
seph, supposed to be the real burial place of Jacob's favor- 
ite son. The story of Joseph's life is extremely interesting, 
and I should take great pleasure in telling it to you, but 
space forbids. The time came for the good man to die, 
and the cares and toils of life ended. His body was em- 
balmed — as was the custom of the country — and placed in a 
coffin. "And the bones of Joseph, which the children of 
Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem." 

When the famine was great in the land where Joseph's 
father and brethren dwelt, he was greatly concerned; and 
when the brethren asked for corn after their arrival in 
Egypt it was not withheld from them, even when Joseph 
had power to do so. Prosperity had not closed this good 
man's heart against home folks, though he had been shame- 
fully treated by them. I think a lesson of love may be 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 209 

learned, for hatred was far from his heart, and in every ac- 
tion love was made manifest. 

We rode on from Joseph's tomb until the valley of 
Shechem was entered. There we were between two moun- 
tains, — Gerizim, where the blessing of obedience was pro- 
nounced, and Ebal, where cursings upon the rebellious were 
made known. 

Our camping place was at the foot of the mountains, 
and while some of the party with the dragoman made the 
ascent of Gerizim others went on to camp. Mr. Heilpin in- 
formed us that the ascent of the mountain would be rather 
a hard one, so we that were tired preferred going on to 
camp; therefore only a few of the company undertook the 
climb. The tents were pitched on a piece of level ground 
beneath the steep ascent of Gerizim, and only a short dis- 
tance from the city of Nablus. 

In Bible times the city went by the name of Sichem or 
Shechem. It was the chief city of the Samaritans for years 
and years, because of the temple which was erected on 
Mount Gerizim. There are still a few Samaritans in Na- 
blus, and it is said that at certain times of the year they go 
to Gerizim and offer sacrifices as did their fathers before 
them. There is no temple for them to worship in now, for 
it was destroyed ever so many years ago. 

Abram knew something about Shechem, too, for it was 
there that he made his first stop after leaving Haran; and 
there he built an altar. Shechem was also known as a city 
of refuge in Bible times. You see the Lord told Joshua to 
tell the children of Israel to appoint cities of refuge. Any 



210 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

one who had been unfortunate enough to accidentally kill a 
man could, by fleeing thither and getting inside the gates, 
find safety from his pursuers. Several cities were appoint- 
ed for that purpose, and Shechem was one of the number. 

Nablus is quite a large city, and a very dirty one, too. 
The houses are built of stone and the streets are very nar- 
row. A great many soap factories were there, and many 
heaps of ashes could be seen outside the city. Lepers are 
there, and many of them, too, — poor, afflicted creatures. 
We were fortunate to escape seeing them, as they did not 
happen to get where we were. 

Wherever we camped men, women and children of the 
cities flocked to see us, and Nablus was no exception to the 
rule. Curiously they watched every movement, and no 
doubt were highly entertained. Sometimes it was quite an- 
noying to us, yet we were pleased to know insults were nev- 
er offered. , 

It was almost dark when the company who had gone 
up the mountain returned. Shortly after the call for din- 
ner, — the evening meal, — was given, and gladly did we all 
respond. One hour was usually spent at a meal, and only 
a short time passed between it and the time of retiring, and 
we were always as glad to go to our little beds as to eat a 
meal. 

The next morning at seven o'clock we left Shechem, 
going toward Samaria. By this time I was able to ride 
with ease and comfort, for I had rested from the extreme 
fatigue of a few days before. We rode through the beauti- 
ful green valleys and enjoyed it very much. The saddle 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 211 

kept to its place upon the horse's back, and riding was a 
pleasure instead of a dread. 

Samaria -is a small, dirty village now, and hedges of 
cactus surround it. Ruins seem to tell the story of the 
grandeur of former years, as we read that " Samaria shall 
become desolate: for she hath rebelled against her God." 
The city had been built by a king whose name was Omri, 
who reigned over Israel twelve years; then he died and was 
buried in Samaria. Omri was a very bad man and his wick- 
edness was worse than that of the kings who had ruled be- 
fore him. He had a son whose name was Ahab, and for 
twenty-two years he ruled Israel. Having had a bad ex- 
ample set him by his father, and being no doubt wicked by 
nature, it was not hard for Ahab to go on in wickedness; so 
he "reared an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which 
was in Samaria." You see the city was the seat of idol 
worship, and a good place to do mission work; so Philip 
undertook the task and preached Christ to them, and the 
people " all gave heed, from the least to the greatest." 

There was not time for a lengthy stay at Samaria, so 
we journeyed on. Olive groves, fig orchards and almond 
trees were seen over the valley and the hillside, with here 
and there barley fields. 

Noon drew near, and we stopped at a place supposed 
to be Gibeah, and there we ate lunch, in a fine old olive 
grove whose trees were a protection for us; and for two 
hours we rested, sheltered from the hot sun. 

We left Gibeah, and rode on into a broad valley. A 
mountain was seen far away to the north, and they called 



212 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

it Mourit Hermon. With the aid of our field glass snow- 
was seen upon it, and an Australian lady of the party 
seemed glad to know there was a possibility of getting 
where snow really was, for, said she, "I never saw snow in 
my life." 

Dothan was in the distance, too, and you know that is 
the place where Joseph went to seek his brethren, and 
where they sold him to the company of Ishmaelites. Ev- 
erywhere you look the eye falls upon places which are 
familiar to the Bible reader. There in view were the moun- 
tains of Gilboa where Saul and Jonathan were slain, and 
there, too, was Mount Carmel, the home of the prophet. 

We descended a steep, rocky road into a valley again, 
and passed a Bedouin camp on the way. Only a short 
time passed when we were made to rejoice at the sight of 
our tents, the only home we had. A twenty-eight mile 
ride in one day was a tiresome piece of work, and when we 
rode into camp and saw the tents it was truly a beautiful 
sight. 

Early the next morning we were up and ready for a 
day's ride to Nazareth, — another hard day in the saddle. 
At the close of the day we found our tents pitched at Jenin. 
From there we rode on to the fountain of Gideon, which we 
found to be a nice, large fountain of pure, clear water com- 
ing out of a cave in the side of the mountain. One time 
the Lord told Gideon to take his army to that fountain and 
there he would try them for him. At first there were many 
thousand men; but the Lord said that only those who 
lapped water with their tongue, as a dog does, should go 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 21 3 

with Gideon. The men never knew they were to be tried 
that way; so they were sent down to the fountain, and some 
of them lapped the water, while others bowed down on 
their knees and drank. Those who lapped the water Gid- 
eon took and with them fought the Midianites, and Israel 
was saved by Gideon with only three hundred men. 

We rode on directly to Jezreel. There Ahab had his 
nome many years ago. No doubt in sight of where we 
were was the vineyard of Naboth which Ahab coveted. 

Not very far from Jezreel is Sulem, the ancient Shunem 
of Bible times. It may have been a fine city then, but now 
it is a small village with a few huts inside of a cactus hedge. 
We rested and ate our noonday meal in the village. The 
touching story of the Shunammite woman came to our 
mind while there. We wondered where the house of the 
great woman with whom Elisha was constrained to eat 
bread was located. Elisha was a prophet who passed 
through the city often, and whenever it was convenient he 
rested at the house, and the woman and her husband felt 
themselves honored when called upon to entertain him. 
They knew he was a holy man, so decided to make a room 
for him on the wall, fitting it up with bed, table, stool and 
candlestick, — all of the conveniences, — so that when Elisha 
came around it would be found ready. Those people had a 
son whom they dearly loved. One time the boy went to 
his father in the field — just as little boys in this country 
sometimes do — and shortly after he was heard to say, "My 
head, my head." A lad carried him to his mother and "he 
sat on her knees till noon, and then died." She placed the 



214 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

lifeless body of her little boy upon the bed of Elisha, then 
closed the door, called her husband and said, "Send me, I 
pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that 
I may run to the man of God and come again." The hus- 
band was surprised to know she wanted to go to see the 
man of God then, never thinking, I suppose, that the be- 
loved son had died. . "It shall be well," was all she had 
time to say, and then, in a great hurry, she and the servant 
departed. 

The prophet was found, and the sorrowful story re- 
lated. What a journey the woman had in the burning sun, 
— for she went clear to Mount Carmel, — but a mother's 
love is enduring and unselfish. She thought only of the 
dear one, and having him brought to life again. At first 
the prophet thought to send Gehazi with his staff, but the 
woman would not hear to such a thing and refused to leave 
until Elisha "arose and followed her." All three of them 
went to the desolate home, and when the prophet was alone 
with the dead child he prayed to the Lord and put his 
mouth to the mouth of the child, and his hands upon the 
hands of the little one and warmed him up in that way. 
By and by the little boy sneezed, yes, seven times; then his 
eyes opened. The woman was called. "Then she went in 
and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and 
took up her son, and went out." What a lesson of trust 
there is in this Bible story; and the Lord may be trusted 
these days just as well as then, if we only feel like doing so. 

Our luncheon was eaten under lemon trees, but I be- 
lieve there was not one bit of grass anywhere around us. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 215 

There were crowds of children who came out from the vil- 
lage to see us, and I wondered whether the Shunammite's 
son looked anything like those children. Their actions 
were very rude, and quite annoying to us, for almost con- 
tinually they called out, " Backsheesh, backsheesh," and no 
matter how much backsheesh was given them they could 
not be persuaded to leave. 

Backsheesh means a gift, and the inhabitants of that 
country expect all travelers to give them something. We 
had nothing but money for them, and each piece received 
had to be taken home, have a hole punched in it, and then 
strung on a string; after which they were tied around the 
forehead and worn as ornaments. Every time the head 
moved the coins jingled. Boys and girls were dressed 
alike, so it was hard to say who wore the money. 

Some women were washing clothes at a fountain near 
the edge of the village, and I am sure you never saw any 
one wash as strangely as they. I do not know whether 
they used soap; anyway, the water did not indicate it. A 
garment was dipped in the water and made soaking wet. 
Then it was placed upon a large stone which was hollowed 
out a little. A small stone was held in the right hand, and 
with it the garment was pounded again and again. I saw 
nothing white in the wash, and indeed the colored pieces 
looked as though an extra rubbing was needed, even after 
they had been pounded and rolled again and again. 

Shunem was rather cleaner looking than most of the 
villages passed through, and yet there was room for im- 
provement, for great piles of manure and filth were seen on 



2l6 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

the main streets, which looked as though they had been 
there for ages. Children were perched upon the filth, sit- 
ting there as comfortably as could be imagined. Vermin 
were thick, causing much uneasiness to both tourist and 
Arab. A woman decided to make money by showing a 
plump baby which she carried upon her arm. Meekly she 
said, "Backsheesh for baba;" and we responded to the re- 
quest, giving a few coins, then turning away from her. In 
a short time after a half-grown girl presented herself before 
us with the same plump baby, and with the same request. 
No doubt the woman thought showing her baby was paying 
business; therefore placed the child in the hands of others 
to help along the enterprise. Finally the time came for us 
to leave Shunem, and real glad we were to get away. 

Nain comes next in our line of travel, and possibly you 
remember it as being the place to which Jesus and many of 
his disciples went. As they neared the gate of the city a 
dead man was carried out. He was the only son of a wid- 
ow, and no doubt her only support. The Lord was sorry 
for the bereaved mother and said, "Weep not." Jesus 
touched the bier and told the young man to arise. "And 
he that was dead sat up, and began to speak; and he deliv- 
ered him to his mother." The city of Nain was once pros- 
perous, but now only a few miserable houses are to be seen. 

It was getting on toward sundown as we rode up a 
steep hill, and when the top was reached the city of Nazar- 
eth was in full view. Every one of the party seemed anx- 
ious to reach camp, and the horses were urged to a faster 
pace. During the day some of the party had unpleasant 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 



217 



experiences. A German lady who rode well was thrown 
from her horse, and striking a stone, bruised her face. An- 
other lady was riding along rather unconcerned, when her 
horse decided to rest himself. Forthwith he got down in a 
great mud puddle, while the lady was still seated upon his 
back. Indeed, scarcely a day passed but some one of the 
party had a fall; but I am glad to say that husband and I 
kept upon the horses' backs, and our horses kept upon 
their feet all the way. So we never had a fall. 




CHAPTE1? XI. 



Riding into Nazareth. — Virgin's Fountain.— Tricky Horses. — Cana of 
Galilee. — Tiberias. — Story of Jesus and his Disciples. — Boat Ride on 
the Sea of Galilee. — Capernaum. — Mounting Horses. — Disappear- 
ance of the Dragoman. — A Serious Accident. — Lake Huleh. — Cesa- 
rea Philippi. — Mount Hermon. — Crossing the River Pharpar. — Da- 
mascus. — Via Recta. — Bible References to Courts. — Cup of Coffee. — 
Water Seller 




ITH the dragoman heading the company we rode 
into Nazareth single file just as the sun went down. 
He seemed delighted to be leader of such a large 
party of tourists, and as we marched along the people 
looked amazed at the turnout. Our stay at this place was 
longer than at any of the preceding places, for reaching 
there Saturday evening gave us Sunday as an extra day of 
rest, as on that day no traveling was done. 

Our tents were pitched near the "Virgin's Fountain," 
which is considered one of the holy places of the city, be- 
cause it is thought that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in 
the habit of going there for water. We took pleasure in 
watching the women fill their large jars, which held perhaps 
three gallons of water. Mothers with tiny babies upon 
their arms went to the fountain, and young, laughing girls 
mingled with the crowd. Some of them were in a hurry, 
while many stopped long enough to have a pleasant chat 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 2IO, 

and tell a bit of news. One would naturally suppose a jar 
holding three gallons of water would be a heavy burden to 
carry; but the women helped each other place them upon 
the head, after which the individual walked off uncon- 
cerned, seemingly not having a. fear as to the vessel tum- 
bling off. The bearing of water seemed to be one of the 
burdens placed upon the women of that country, and they 
bore it cheerfully. Not a man was to be seen carrying the 
smallest vessel. It was the custom for women to carry wa- 
ter in Abraham's time, for we read that when a servant was 
sent to seek a wife for Isaac, and a certain city was reached, 
"he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a 
well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that 
women go out to draw water." 

The Sabbath Day Was not spent resting in our tents, 
for we had too strong a desire to see something of the "city 
of Jesus." No doubt you remember that Mary and Joseph 
had their home in Nazareth before going up to Bethlehem 
to be taxed; but the Nazareth of Joseph and Mary's time is 
not the Nazareth we looked upon, for since then battles 
have been fought there, and the city destroyed several 
times. It has been rebuilt, however, and each time the 
original site was used. The natives were bright-faced and 
rather neatly dressed, and the contrast between this city 
and others was great. We were not surprised to learn that 
Protestantism had a hold there, and that solved the mys- 
tery. 

Nazareth is built on the side of a hill and presented 
quite a beautiful appearance. Upon one of the hills which 



220 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

surround the city is an orphanage school for girls, which, 
we learned, was under the care of a self-sacrificing woman. 
Early in life she left parents, home and friends, went to 
Nazareth and took charge of the little girls who lived there, 
teaching them the way to Christ. At first it may have 
seemed a thankless task, but to-day it is plainly seen that 
her labors were not in vain. An English society supplied 
her with funds. All money given for the support of such 
institutions in a foreign land is well spent. 

There is a Protestant church in Nazareth, and we at- 
tended services there. Two ministers of the Church of 
England conducted the services, and the story of the Shu- 
nammite woman was read to us. The preachers belonged 
to our party; the congregation was made up mostly of tour- 
ists, and a small company it was. 

The first thirty years of Jesus' life were spent in Nazar- 
eth; but "he did not many mighty works there, because of 
their unbelief." Jesus talked very plainly to the people, 
and they were filled with wrath and "rose up and thrust 
him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill 
whereon their city was built, that they might cast him 
down headlong. But he, passing through the midst of 
them, went his way." The mount of precipitation is shown 
the traveler, and we tried to imagine how the people ap- 
peared when Christ deliberately walked away from them. 

We spent a restful day at Nazareth, which helped us to 
bear the journey of the following week. Our hearts were 
filled with gratitude to the Lord, and on bended knees we 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 221 

thanked him for the great privilege of being permitted to 
see the city of the meek and lowly Nazarene. 

One hundred and seventy-two miles had been traveled 
from the time we mounted our horses at Jerusalem up to 
the time Nazareth was reached, and every mile of the way 
was traveled on horseback. It is hard to tell how much 
suffering many of the poor horses endured, for the condi- 
tion, of their backs was distressing. Only two out of the 
eighteen were in good condition, and we two rode them. 
Some of the saddles fitted the horses' backs poorly, and 
that caused the skin to rub off, which created a large sore 
place. When the hostlers removed the saddles in the even- 
ing our sympathies were aroused, for never before had we 
seen anything to equal the raw state of those horses' backs. 
The men did not fancy having spectators, and their faces 
indicated their displeasure; but we looked anyway, and left 
when it suited us. The Arabs may have neglected to give 
the animals proper care and attention, thus helping the sore 
to grow larger and more inflamed. If the men had been 
less idle and more attentive probably the faithful animals 
would have been in better trim for traveling. Some of the 
horses were a little tricky, for they had a habit of rolling. 
No matter whether on a smooth road or in a mud puddle, 
when the desire to roll came to them down they went, and 
the patience of the ladies was sorely tried, for they were 
sure to be upon the animals' backs. The riders never 
thought it a funny thing for them to do, but those who 
looked on naturally smiled. 



222 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

Sunday's rest at Nazareth was quite a benefit to us, and 
Monday morning we were up early, ready for the onward 
march. 

As we rode out of camp, the Virgin's Fountain was 
again passed, and once more we saw the water carriers 
busy. Bidding adieu to Nazareth we rode up a steep hill, 
and looking back saw the white houses as they stood in the 
bright sunlight. The last look was taken, and we passed 
over the brow of the hill, feeling sure that the city of Jesus 
would be seen no more by us. 

Kefr Kenna is a small village through which we passed, 
and where a short stop was made. For centuries it was 
thought to be Cana of Galilee, where, in the time of Christ, 
there was a marriage. You remember that Jesus, his moth- 
er and the disciples were there. "And when they wanted 
wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no 
wine." Well, Jesus didn't seem quite ready to perform a 
miracle when his mother spoke to him, and his reply was, 
"Mine hour is not yet come." But no doubt the mother 
felt his hour had come, so she told the servants to do what- 
ever Jesus instructed them to do. "Then Jesus saith unto 
them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them 
up to the brim." When the order to draw out the water 
was given, lo, there was wine, and the governor drank of it, 
speaking words of praise, for it was even better than the 
first which had been passed; so at this place Jesus began to 
perform miracles. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 223 

Two immense stone jars were shown us, said to be the 
very jars our Savior used at that marriage; but we do not 
vouch for the truth of the statement. 

There was very little to interest us in Cana, therefore 
our stay was short, and we rode on toward Tiberias, reach- 
ing there in time to eat our noonday meal. 

Tiberias is by the Sea of Galilee and was once the cap- 
ital of Galilee; but, like other cities of Bible times, it had 
been destroyed. Not very many years ago the present city 
was partly destroyed by an earthquake, and the walls tell 
the story. There are hot springs at Tiberias, and it is said 
the water is too hot for immediate use. Many people who 
have rheumatism go there to bathe and be cured if possi- 
ble. It is said the bath houses are filthy and abound in 
vermin; and, from what we saw of our boatmen, we con- 
cluded the private houses must be in as bad a condition as 
the bath houses. 

The Sea of Galilee has another name which is, Lake of 
Gennesaret. On the shores of this body of water Jesus 
stood when the people pressed upon him, eager to hear the 
Word of God. And in our mind we saw the two empty 
ships at the time the crowd was so great Jesus decided to 
go aboard one of them, and asked Simon to push the boat 
from land. "And he sat down and taught the people out 
of the ship." 

Fish are abundant in the lake now, just as they were in 
the time of Christ; for you remember Jesus said to Simon, 
"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a 



224 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

draught." Simon had been out all night fishing, and had 
worked hard, but not a fish did he catch; and he felt there 
was poor pay in throwing out the nets again. So, after 
telling the Master of his ill luck, he said, "Nevertheless at 
thy word I will let down the net." And the result was "a 
great multitude of fishes." Then there was an accident, the 
net broke. "And they beckoned unto their partners, which 
were in the other ship, that they should come and help 
them. And they came and filled both the ships, so that 
they began to sink." The men were surprised to see so 
many fish, and were dreadfully alarmed, too, lest all should 
be lost; but "Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from hence- 
forth thou shalt catch men." 

The lake was liable to sudden storms, and not a ripple 
could be seen when boatmen started out from the shore; 
but soon the wind came down over the hills, and in a little 
while the water would be wonderfully disturbed. Just such 
a thing happened when Jesus asked his disciples to get in a 
boat and go before him to the other side of the sea. After 
the disciples left him "he departed into a mountain to 
pray." It was evening. Jesus was alone on land and the 
disciples were in their boats toiling away at the oars; "and 
about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, 
walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them." 
Oh, how frightened all were, for they imagined the object 
to be a spirit, and it troubled them. But " immediately he 
talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it 
is I ; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship ; 
and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in them- 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 225 

selves beyond measure, and wondered." Then Peter 
thought he would like to try walking on the water, too. 
"But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and 
beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me!" Poor 
Peter had not faith enough to carry him through when the 
waves rolled around him; but "Jesus stretched forth his 
hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little 
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Can you not imagine 
Christ standing with outstretched hands on the turbulent 
waters of Galilee? Then think of Peter on the verge of 
sinking. To-day Jesus stands ready to save all who call 
upon him. 

Travelers usually have a strong desire to take a boat 
ride on the Sea of Galilee, and our company were as anx- 
ious as any who ever visited its shores. Arrangements 
were therefore made for a ride from Tiberias to Capernaum. 
Two boats, with the boatmen, were procured, and they were 
large enough to hold the party and rowers very nicely. 

The men were strong, able-bodied fellows, and you will 
think so, too, when I tell you that each passenger was car- 
ried to the boats by them. You see, two of the boatmen 
put their hands together in such a manner as to form a 
seat, and we sat upon their hands as comfortably as you 
please, and kept from falling off by placing our arms about 
their necks. The water was not deep enough to reach our 
feet, so we got along very well. You may imagine the sight 
to have been amusing, for over half of the number weighed 
one hundred and seventy-five pounds apiece, and one old 
man almost tipped the scales at three hundred. The boat- 



226 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

men, no doubt, were anxious to place such burdens in the 
boat. The strong odor of fish was rather unpleasant, and 
it seemed best to close the eyes and thereby shut away the 
filthy condition of boat and men. The day was beautiful 
and the lake very smooth. The wind sometimes comes 
down over the hills, and as of old the result is a restless, 
uneasy sea. We were glad the water was not troubled that 
day. 

The sun shone very hot, and when it struck the water 
its rays caused our eyes to smart. At the end of three 
hours Tell Hum was before us. After landing we walked 
up a hill through a rank growth of weeds higher than our 
heads, and there looked upon what is thought to be Caper- 
naum, one of the chief cities of Palestine in Christ's time, 
where much of his time was spent in healing the sick and 
teaching the people. Jesus upbraided many cities for their 
neglect of. duty, and Capernaum was among the number. 
Now read his warning words, "And thou, Capernaum, 
which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to 
hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, 
had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this 
day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable 
for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for 
thee." 

The prophecy was fulfilled and all houses and churches 
were leveled to the ground. The hot sun shining upon the 
rank growth of weeds proved to be extremely disagreeable 
to us, therefore we shortened our stay. Entering the boats 
again, we were rowed to camp. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 227 

The tents were pitched near Magdala, about three miles 
from Tiberias, and our stopping place that night was only a 
few feet from the water, a beautiful looking place, but an 
extremely damp one. The gentlemen of the party took a 
good bath in the Sea of Galilee and pronounced it quite re- 
freshing; the ladies were denied that privilege, for bathing 
dresses were too far away; so we missed that pleasure. 

We retired rather late that night, but were quite willing 
to arise early the next morning, and by seven o'clock were 
in the saddle. Horseback riding was not so fatiguing now, 
and there really seemed to be a little pleasure in traveling 
over hill and plain. 

I have told you about riding horseback, but you may 
not know how we mounted our horses. If plenty of rocks 
were to be found at the different stopping places mounting 
a horse was not so very hard; but many times the rocks 
were so small it would have taken hours and hours to throw 
them together to make a pile large enough for us to stand 
upon. No chairs, no rocks to stand on; then how did we 
mount? Well, the dragoman held out his hand and we put 
our foot upon it; then, after having placed one of our hands 
upon the horn of the saddle, we prepared to jump. Mr. 
Heilpin always said, "Ready? Now, one, two, three;" and 
by the time he had said three we were usually up in the 
saddle. But sometimes "three" was said, when no attempt 
had been made to jump; then one, two, three was repeated. 
Often our calculations and his counting failed to come out 
right; for we had forgotten to spring. Mounting the hors- 
es was real amusing, but awfully trying. Practice makes 



228 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

perfect, it has been said, and after a few lessons every one 
of the women was more active, and we mounted in a hurry. 

While riding along one day we all lost sight of our 
dragoman, and it seemed quite strange to be without him. 
Yosef undertook to be our pilot, but as he became con- 
fused we concluded he answered the purpose but poorly; 
and the outlook to gain camp seemed rather uncertain. 
One of the party rode ahead and called out, "I'll take you 
through; follow me." We decided it was too much like the 
blind leading the blind, but just at that time the dragoman 
put in an appearance and we followed him. After riding a 
long distance a good resting place was found near a beauti- 
ful fountain. Each person used his own pleasure as to how 
the time should be spent. Some wrote letters and others 
took a nap. My time was spent in admiring the surround- 
ings and reading a little. Every one seemed to enjoy the 
rest immensely, and when the call to leave was given we 
were loath to quit the spot. 

Serious accidents sometimes happen to tourists, and I 
shall have to tell you of one which happened to one of our 
number. Just before the second call was given one of the 
ladies desired a switch, and as she stepped down to the 
place where they could be found her knee twisted and the 
bone snapped. Being near enough to hear it, I immediately 
went to her asking the question, "Are you hurt?" and the 
reply was, "Call the doctors;" which I did; and when the 
examination was made a serious break was announced. 
The doctors belonged to our party, but their medicines and 
instruments were at home. Servants were sent to camp in 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 229 

a gallop for bedstead, mattress and a board. The gentle- 
men made splints and gave their large white silk handker- 
chiefs for bandages. The bone was set and six men carried 
her to camp, and it was nine o'clock by the time we reached 
there. 

The lady was of a very cheerful disposition, and there- 
fore bore this misfortune uncomplainingly. I shall never 
forget that time, as a great gloom was cast over the compa- 
ny, and it seemed as though death had come into our midst. 

Our camping place for that night was Ein-Baluka, and 
it seemed to be in the neighborhood of Bedouin Arabs, 
which fact was not pleasant to think of; but we got along 
all right and the watchful eye of the Lord was over us 
there, as well as at every other camping place. There was 
no other way for the lady to travel but by horseback, so a 
mattress was fastened upon the animal's back and Miss W. 
placed upon it, being tied there with sheets. 

It looked very odd to see her riding backward, but 
there was no other way, for the broken limb had to be kept 
perfectly straight, as the least bit of a bend made it very 
painful. Her horse did not go out of a walk, yet there was 
a motion which caused the limb to roll. It was necessary 
to remedy that before going very far, and the lady said 
laughingly, "I'll fix something to hold it still," and forth- 
with a shawl-strap was brought forth. One end was placed 
about the afflicted limb, and the other end of the strap was 
held in her hand. That proved to be just the thing and 
saved much pain, because the foot was kept in its place. 



230 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

Four days she was carried over the rough roads, cross- 
ing over Mount Hermon and the river Pharpar. A watch- 
ful eye was kept over the patient sufferer all of the way, and 
Arab men walked by her side to help when needed. In our 
line of march the company was headed by the dragoman, 
then Miss W. and the rest of us coming after, all riding 
single file. 

One day a great marshy place was crossed, and as mis- 
fortunes don't come singly, it happened that Miss W.'s 
horse had to stick in the mud. Some of the gentlemen, 
with the help of an Arab, lifted the cripple from the horse 
and placed her upon the ground; after which the servants 
worked faithfully to extricate the animal. Considerable 
time was lost, but finally he was set free and we once more 
moved on. 

Often such accidents happen when horses and donkeys 
are disabled; and as the owners of them can not take the 
animals over the mountain or remain to feed them the poor 
things must be left to suffer and finally die of starvation. 
My heart was made to ache for the animals which we saw 
by the roadside, unable to walk and left to die. 

There were no more mishaps after this, and the crip- 
pled member was never heard to utter a complaint, and was 
the most cheerful one of the party. She was aware of the 
fact that the fracture would leave its results for life, but 
notwithstanding she was cheerful. If the lady could speak 
to you she would tell you her trust was in the One who 
watches over all of his children, for Miss W. was a Chris- 
tian. When at home this lady was a diligent worker in the 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 23 1 

Sunday school, and all along the journey she paid great at- 
tention to the noted Bible places, for, said she, "I shall tell 
it all to my class when I get home." 

Children, did you ever think how much hard work your 
Sunday-school teachers do, that they may be able to show 
you the way to Christ? They are concerned about your 
soul's salvation, and many, many hours are anxiously spent 
in thinking and studying the best plan to present the Word 
of God to you Sunday after Sunday. Oh do not pass the 
truths by thoughtlessly, for remember that your reward in 
the end will be meted out according to the opportunity you 
had of learning the right. 

We are getting on toward the end of our journey, and 
this time we find the tents pitched at Lake Huleh, better 
known, perhaps, as the "Waters of Merom." 

During the day Bedouin Arab camps were passed, and 
we saw their tents, which were made of goats' hair closely 
woven together, making them water-tight. Plenty of fish 
are found in the waters of Lake Huleh, and Bedouin Arabs 
go there to fish and hunt. These people are of a roving 
nature, therefore remain but a short time at one place. 
Their families go with them, of course, and that means the 
donkeys, camels, sheep and goats. As long as pasture is 
green, they stay at one place, only moving when pasture 
becomes scarce. 

I wonder how many of you ever saw a buffalo. Well, 
we saw a few of them on the low ground at the head of the 
lake. They were very small compared with those of the 



232 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

western plains of this country; they seemed to be gentle 
and were not disturbed at all by our company passing by. 

The next camping place was at the base of Mount 
Hermon, whose top was capped with snow. Not far from 
the tents springs of water gushed out from beneath the 
rocks. Just beyond the springs was a large cave, where 
people went to worship a god called " Pan." 

The country through which we traveled that day was 
beautiful. Plenty of green grass was to be seen, and olive 
groves were all around us. We crossed an old Roman 
bridge, and found our canvas homes in an olive grove 
which had a stream of clear mountain water flowing 
through it. 

The situation of Banias was beautiful on the side of 
the mountain, with ravines and sparkling streams of water 
about it. Only a few houses were in the village, and not 
much of interest was to be seen there; but wherever we 
went while passing through Palestine Jesus and his disci- 
ples were brought plainly to our minds, and is it any won- 
der that our faith in the Bible grew stronger? I think not. 

Banias, or Cesarea Philippi, is thought to be the scene 
of Christ's transfiguration, the place where his outward 
form was changed; for we read of his face shining as the 
sun and of his raiment being white as the light. Christ's 
presence was felt in Cesarea Philippi, for we read again 
that when he came into the coasts he asked his disciples 
these questions: "Whom do men say that I, the Son of 
man, am?" When they answered him, "he saith unto them, 
But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 233 

and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
No human being had made such a revelation to Simon 
Peter, but the "Father which is in heaven." 

On the top of a hill near our camping place were seen 
the ruins of an old castle. Some of the party, accompanied 
by a guide, went up the hill to see them, and those of us 
who were left behind went to our tents and spent that time 
resting. 

The men did not reach camp till late in the evening, 
and some of us feared an accident had happened, or the 
pathway to camp had been lost; but mealtime brought 
every one around the board, happy and in good spirits. 

Bedtime came later that night than usual because of 
the delay, so we were the losers, for next morning we were 
not allowed to sleep any later than usual. 

At this point our journey in Palestine ends, and now we 
enter Syria. 

From Cesarea Philippi we rode up the side of Mount 
Hermon, said to be the highest mountain in Syria. On the 
top of it snow and ice are found the year round. In Bible 
times this mountain was sometimes called Sion, also Serion. 
It has several peaks, and upon one of them are to be found 
the ruins of a temple supposed to have been erected there 
years and years ago for the worship of Baal. Now Baal 
was an idol; so temples and altars erected for the worship 
of that god were usually built upon high places. We read 
that Josiah beat down the altars which had been erected 
"on top of the upper chambers of Ahaz." The Israelites 
were instructed to "utterly destroy all the places wherein 



234 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

the nations which ye shall, possess served their gods, upon 
the high mountains, and upon the hills." The worship of 
Baal in those times was so great that human beings — sons 
of families — were offered as burnt offerings to him. No 
wonder instructions were given to "utterly destroy all the 
places." 

We did not ride to the top of Mount Hermon, because 
it was not necessary; but a ridge to the right of it was 
crossed, and we found the way steep and wonderfully 
rough. Never before had we gone over such roads, and 
there was considerable danger connected with the trip. 
The Lord took care of us, as usual, and we came out all 
right. 

Lunch was eaten that day near a Druse village. They 
are a people who greatly detest Christians, so we were very 
careful not to give occasion for offense. Our stop there 
was not any more agreeable to us than it seemed to be to 
them, so we were quite willing to ride on as soon as possi- 
ble after luncheon. 

In the afternoon we crossed the swiftly flowing river 
Pharpar. A number of Arab men, who were almost naked, 
led our horses through the rushing, dashing water, and it 
took but a little while for us to find that each man knew his 
business well. The water was quite deep, almost up to our 
feet, and the current was so swift it seemed the horses 
would surely go down stream instead of right across. We 
realized how necessary it was to have our horses led by 
men who not only knew the fording place, but who were 
strong and able to manage horses when in water. Those 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. - 235 

Arabs assisted both men and women to cross over, and in- 
deed not any one of the party could have crossed without 
help. 

That night our camping place was close to the river 
and very near to a mountain village. We were now well on 
our way to Damascus. We found the road long and the 
ride extremely wearisome, with nothing special to attract 
our attention. 

When the caravan road leading from Damascus to 
Egypt was gained, we were reminded of Saul and what be- 
fell him on his way to the same city. You remember how 
cruelly he had been acting, how he had put Christian men 
and women in prison, and then how he stood by and saw 
Stephen stoned? Well, the Lord knew how to stop Saul in 
his cruel work, for before the city was gained, and some- 
where on the road I've been telling you about, we read that 
"suddenly there shined round about him a light from heav- 
en: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto 
him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" And then for 
three days this man was blind, and those who were with 
him led him to the city. Instead of persecuting the Chris- 
tians, as heretofore, Saul preached Christ; after which his 
life was in peril, for the Jews decided to kill him. 

The exact spot where this great man was stricken down 
is not known, but we do know he journeyed on the road 
which led to Damascus. 

• A large caravan of camels, on the way to Egypt, 
stopped to rest and feed close to where we were lunching. 
Such sights were quite common to us, and but little atten- 



236 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

tion was paid to them. They journeyed on toward Egypt,, 
and we moved on toward Damascus. When within a few 
miles of the city we halted, and camped there for the night. 
The next morning every one in the party was anxious 
to leave camp early, but the dragoman seemed unusually 
anxious to take his time; so we were compelled to exercise 
patience. In very good time, however, we started on the 
way, and after getting a short distance from camp a view of 
the old city burst suddenly upon us. There were the 
domes and minarets pointing heavenward; and as we drew 
nearer and nearer to the city the groves, gardens and wind- 
ing streams were seen. Truly the sight was a very beauti- 
ful one, and no doubt the ride across the desert plains 
helped us to enjoy the scene to its fullest extent. The 
dragoman was anxious to make as good an appearance go- 
ing into the city as possible, so he rode on before and we 
all followed after. Finally the hotel was reached, and with 
joy each one dismounted, giving the horses over to the care 
of the men who were there waiting. That night we slept 
under a roof instead of under canvas, and it was the first 
time since leaving Jerusalem. I am not sure we slept any 
more soundly there than in our tents, but there was such a 
satisfaction in knowing that the roof which covered us was 
more than canvas, and that thieves could enter only at the 
door. For a night or two our shoes were left upon the 
floor instead of being placed under the pillow, and how 
pleasant it was to know the baggage was safe without being 
tied to the bedstead! 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 237 

Perhaps you wonder what became of the afflicted one 
of the party. Well, she was taken right along with us to 
Damascus, and when it came time for us to leave the city 
both she and her friend remained behind, while we jour- 
neyed on and on. 

There was great pleasure in being in comfortable, 
home-like quarters, and the drawing room was quite a live- 
ly place for a while. Our clothes looked the worse for 
wear, and they were exchanged for those which were not 
soiled and travel-stained. It was surprising to see what a 
change had been brought about in the appearance of each 
one, not only in dress but in looks, for everybody seemed 
bright and cheerful. 

Miss W. was compelled to eat all of her meals in her 
own room, since she was unable to go from place to place. 
We did not forget the invalid, or neglect her either, and at 
such times as were convenient we gathered in her room. At 
the expiration of three days we journeyed on through Syria 
toward the seaport town of Beyrut, each night camping by 
the way. 

Damascus is said to be the oldest city of the world. 
Way back in Abraham's time mention was made of it as be- 
ing the home of Eliezer, his steward. A number of times 
Damascus is spoken of in the Bible, and we believe it was 
as flourishing a city then as it is these years. 

The rivers Pharpar and Abana supply Damascus with 
water, and great canals convey it far and wide over the sur- 
rounding country. No doubt you have read about these 
two rivers in connection with the Bible story of Naaman 



238 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

the leper. He knew the rivers were beautifully clear, and 
his preference was to wash in them rather than in the water 
the prophet directed him to wash in for the cleansing of the 
leprosy. 

There is a street in Damascus which is called Via Rec- 
ta. It runs from the east to the west gate. We were told 
it was "the street called Straight." In Bible times the 
Lord directed Ananias in a vision to go into that street and 
make inquiry for Saul of Tarsus. Ananias was timid about 
going; Saul's reputation was not good, for it was known far 
and wide how he had been treating all who called upon the 
name of the Lord. But the timid feelings were cast aside 
and the desire of the Lord followed out. Saul was found 
and the message was delivered, and after Saul's sight had 
been restored he "arose and was baptized." After his con- 
version Saul "preached Christ in the synagogues." The 
Jews opposed him and watched day and night to take his 
life; "but Saul increased the more in strength, and con- 
founded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that 
this is very Christ." When the danger of being killed was 
greatest, "then the disciples took him by night, and let 
him down by the wall in a basket," and by that means 
Saul's life was spared a while longer to preach boldly for 
Jesus. 

A window was shown us, said to be the window from 
which Saul was let down on that memorable night. The 
houses of Ananias and Naaman were also shown, but we 
shall never know whether they were really the houses in 
which those Bible characters lived. Naaman's house had 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 239 

been turned into a hospital, and we hope many sufferers 
have been made well inside of its walls. 

There were no beautiful residences to admire while 
passing along, and you can scarcely imagine how strange it 
seemed to look at high blank walls. 

In the far East houses are built with a court — an en- 
closed space — and on all sides of it are doors which lead in- 
to different rooms. Our hotel had an upper story, and the 
stairway which led to it opened on one corner of the court. 

Every one going into a house must first pass through a 
gate in the high wall. There are a great many references 
in the Bible to the courts of houses, and you know king 
Ahasuerus made a feast in a court. It was customary for 
the door of a court to be locked, and consequently a serv- 
ant attended to the opening of it. You remember when 
Peter was placed in prison by Herod and guarded by four 
soldiers he was released from his chains and set at liberty 
by the angel of the Lord? Well, Peter came "to the house 
of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark," 
and "knocked at the door of the gate, and a damsel came 
to hearken." These instances show that the custom of 
having houses with courts to-day is the custom of centu- 
ries ago. 

The bazaars of Damascus are very highly spoken of all 
over the world, and every traveler is anxious to visit them 
soon after reaching the city. We found the bazaars to be 
shops like open stalls, in avenues roofed over. When a 
customer purchases goods he walks up to the stall and is 
waited upon by the merchant, who is usually sitting down 



240 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

cross-legged. The purchaser stands on the street, which is 
very narrow, and the throng of buyers and wayfarers have a 
good chance to jostle him about unpleasantly. Merchants 
make much ado in selling their goods, for they talk furious- 
ly. To me it seemed a fight was brewing; but by and by 
the sale was completed and quiet reigned until another pur- 
chaser happened along. We wanted to purchase a few silk 
handkerchiefs, and before an attempt at a sale was made 
we were furnished with a cup of coffee each; after which an 
effort was made to sell the articles. Sales are not always 
made, for the buyer is not always pleased with the goods. 

You may wonder how large the cups were, so I'll just 
tell you they held perhaps two tablespoonfuls of coffee 
ready to drink. That may seem like a very little bit, but it 
was quite enough, for we had to get rid of grounds too. 
In that country coffee is pounded in a mortar, making the 
grain as fine as powder. After having been boiled the mix- 
ture is sweetened, and then you get rid of it as best you 
can. A very strange custom you will think, but in time 
one becomes used to it. 

While walking along we noticed some of the bazaars 
were without salesmen, and upon inquiry found the men 
had gone to the mosque for prayers. No matter when the 
hour of prayer came, business was cast aside, and away 
they went. Could not many Christians learn a lesson from 
the Mohammedans to-day? Surely they could. 

The rattle of wagons is not heard in those roofed 
streets, but donkeys and camels quietly make their way 




Water Seller. 



242 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

through the crowd, not caring whether a person is stepped 
upon or. not. 

A missionary to the Jews, from London, England, 
made the acquaintance of our party, and through his kind- 
ness we were permitted to visit some of the best private 
houses in the city. Space will not allow me to tell you 
what was seen there, but before leaving the city of Damas- 
cus I want to tell you about the man who is in the picture. 
He is a water seller who goes along the streets selling wa- 
ter to those who desire a drink. Do you see the cup in his 
outstretched hand? And there upon his back is the leath- 
er bottle which holds the water. When walking along he 
calls out in loud tones, " Let him that is athirst come and 
drink;" and then comes a great noise from the knocking 
together of the tin cups. I do not know whether the man 
sells much water or not, for we did not stand still long 
enough for us to watch him. 

Many years ago a great many Christians lived in Da- 
mascus, but the Moslems burned a portion of the city in 
which they lived, and thousands were put to death. The 
Christian population is now on the increase, and there is 
safety on the streets of Damascus for all Christian people. 
Missionaries have worked faithfully, scattering the good 
seed there. May the old and young alike pray the Lord to 
bless all efforts for good; and, little children, may the Lord 
help you all to get the missionary spirit, so that some day 
you may go forth and battle for the right. 



CHAPTER XII. 




Farewell to Damascus. — Ain Fijeh. — Quarrelsome Arabs. — Onward to 
Baalbek. — A Friendly Arab Family. — On the Mountains of Leba- 
non. — Baalbek. — Rejected Stone. — From Baalbek to Beyrut. — My 
Horse John. — Homeward Bound. 



DIEU was said to Damascus with its mosques, ba- 
zaars, orchards and winding streams. We left it 
never expecting'to look again upon the city which 
the natives call "paradise on earth." 

The day was delightful, and the scenery along the 
greater part of the way was quite different from that which 
we had been accustomed to seeing. The grass was beauti- 
fully green, and fruit trees were in splendid condition. 
The swift-flowing river was, in a measure, instrumental in 
clothing the trees with foliage and giving the grass its 
beautiful verdure; but behind all the hand of the Lord was 
seen. 

Noontime came, and we rested not far from a small 
village called Ain Fijeh, very close to a fountain with the 
same name. Many years ago a temple stood at that place 
and people went there to worship. Now it is in ruins, but 
even yet many Mohammedans go there. While we stood 
by looking at them, they bowed down on their faces, saying 
aloud their studied prayers. A great body of water gushed 
out of a cave near by. It went dashing and splashing along 



244 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

a few yards, then joined a small branch, when the two made 
one river. 

Did you ever watch a great volume of water as it 
dashed over everything which happened in its way? If 
you did, then you can imagine how much interested we 
grown up men and women were at the sight before us. 
That was a charming spot for travelers to tarry for the 
noonday rest, and yet the very name of Ain Fijeh brings 
thoughts exceedingly unpleasant. 

Our luncheon was eaten in a field of beautiful green, — a 
cornfield. The dragoman hired a corner of it from the 
owner expressly for our use. It seemed hardly right to use 
a grain field in that way, but there was no other place for 
so large a party, and since arrangements had been made we 
settled down to enjoy the rest which was needed. The vil- 
lagers seemed very much interested in us, more so than 
common, and during the entire meal watched us very close- 
ly. There was a wonderful chattering among them, and 
there seemed decided indications of displeasure; but since 
we were unable to understand their language we were en- 
tirely ignorant as to what irritated them. 

The meal was eaten with a relish, notwithstanding the 
scowling faces which were looking on. The usual length 
of time was taken for rest; the dragoman awakened from 
his nap and gave the order to start. Soon after each per- 
son went where the horses were waiting, which place was at 
the foot of a very steep hill, where the ladies found rocks 
large enough to mount the horses from. Since the drago- 
man was not needed he remained back — as we supposed — 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 245 

to pay for the use of the field. After having arranged our- 
selves ready for the onward march, we waited for our guide 
to come and lead us on through the unknown country. In- 
stead of going with us, as had been his custom, he called in 
loud tones, "Ride on and follow the road." There were 
sixteen of us now, and one just as ignorant as the other of 
the language and country. We did not fancy starting out 
alone, but the order was given and we obeyed, riding fast 
or slow just as it suited us. 

A change in the road seemed confusing, and we all de- 
cided to go no farther without a guide. The summit of the 
hill was reached by that time, and you can scarcely imag- 
ine our surprise, on looking back, to see the dragoman com- 
pletely surrounded by the villagers. He was unable to 
turn from right to left. Truly, like sheep without a shep- 
herd were we. 

Now, what was to be done, — stand still and wait? Yes, 
it was all we were able to do, for we knew not where to go. 
By this time we noticed the villagers were wild with excite- 
ment. Men and women ran up the hill with clubs and 
pickaxes raised in the air; children came running too, each 
armed with stones. Every one of them seemed determined 
to hurt us, if possible. Their voices were pitched high, 
and such a furious set of people I had never seen before. 
We were a scared set of tourists. To add to our dismay, 
stones were hurled in our midst. Many of them hit the 
poor horses, my own faithful animal being among the num- 
ber. I shall never forget how suddenly he turned and what 
a narrow escape I had from going headlong over the side 



246 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

of the hill. I begged to be taken from my horse, but was 
not allowed to be upon my feet for fear of being in greater 
danger. 

That was a very distressing time for us, boys and girls, 
for we did not expect to escape without injury. The dear 
Lord was good, for his watchful eye was over us and every 
one quit the place unharmed. My nervous system received 
a severe shock, which it has taken all of these years to re- 
cover from. The Arabs did not release the dragoman until 
he paid them a large sum of money, and at the end of our 
journey each one of the party was requested to pay a cer- 
tain sum of money extra to help pay for the release of our 
guide. 

Ain Fijeh had lost all attractions for us, and as soon as 
possible we rode away, leaving its disagreeable inhabitants 
behind, hoping never to be in such an unpleasant situation 
again. It was the first day of April. Had we been in 
America, -we would have thought the people were having 
a little fun at our expense; but not so there, for money was 
what they desired, and money they received before we were 
allowed to go free. 

As we proceeded on our way to camp great ledges of 
rocks were passed over. Sometimes we rode through 
green fields, when our mind was carried back to the lunch- 
ing place and the yelling villagers. My memory of the 
country through which we passed is not vivid, for my mind 
and feelings then were not in trim to enjoy either the coun- 
try or a ride through it. The camping place for that night 
is spoken of as being fine, but I cannot testify as to its 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 247 

beauty. One thing I am sure of, — that our rest during that 
night was much disturbed by thoughts of the day's experi- 
ence. 

We left camp early next morning, and to our sorrow 
the rain came down in torrents. Oh, how unpleasant it 
was! We had no desire to visit the tomb of Abel, which 
we passed. We rode on, preferring to visit a place of shel- 
ter and stay there while the rain continued to fall. It was 
useless, however, to think of that pleasure; so we made the 
best of the situation, feeling sure that only a few more days 
•of hard riding and exposure were in store for us, when our 
journey through the strange land would be ended. 

Bad weather never seemed to bring changes in our pro- 
gramme of travel, so we bravely weathered the rain which 
had continued to fall, and onward we rode toward Baalbek. 
The air had become uncomfortably chilly, and a great de- 
sire for a sheltered place was created within us. It seemed 
to be the order of our trip to have unpleasant things hap- 
pening, and for that particular day an accident was record- 
ed; not a serious one, yet an accident. 

We were riding by a swiftly flowing mountain river, 
when the horse which an English lady was riding made a 
misstep and both of them went down into the water. The 
animal was unable to help himself and it was therefore nec- 
essary for some of the men to render assistance. In good 
time both horse and rider reached land without injury. 

Wet clothing was the result of that accident, and now 
for certain a good, warm fire was needed. Many of us 
could sympathize with the lady, for we were in the same 



248 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

condition, although our clothing became wet from the rain 
and hers from the river; therefore we knew, to our sorrow, 
how uncomfortable she was. Not any of the company. had 
much to say while riding along, but we kept up a wonder- 
ful thinking. 

Our first stopping place after the accident was in a 
small village where the people were unusually friendly. 
We were invited into their homes and we gladly accepted 
the kind invitation. Dripping wet we rode through the lit- 
tle entrance-gate into the court, and while the rain was 
pouring down upon us we dismounted, only too thankful to 
be under roof, where, for a short season at least, the rain 
would cease to beat upon us. Our joy was great when a 
fire was started in the fireplace in one corner of a room. I 
can see that room yet — in my mind's eye — cheerless and un- 
attractive, not a window was to be seen, and in the wall 
were hollow places where the family slept at night. But 
the shelter and the fire we wanted, and that we had, caring 
but little for the dirt and the cheerless home. 

The ladies seemed to think the room was all their own, 
for immediately they took possession of it, each one get- 
ting as close to the fire as possible, all intent on drying 
their soaking wet garments. The native women were very 
much interested in our clothing, examining each piece with 
a great deal of pleasure. They had a strong desire to con- 
verse with us, but there was entirely too much difference in 
our language, for not one of us could speak Arabic. They 
jabbered away at us, and we stood smiling like a lot of 
schoolgirls. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 249 

One old woman couldn't stand it to be near and not 
converse, so she went after the dragoman, brought him in 
and used him as an interpreter. The conversation was 
laughable, but not of long duration, for it was time to leave 
there and ride on. 

The men sat in a room adjoining ours, and I believe it 
was much dirtier; but we were quite well used to filth by 
that time, so it failed to be a rarity. 

Other travelers were resting in the same house, and in 
the court could be seen horses, donkeys and camels. It 
was quite amusing to watch a clumsy camel get through 
the small entrance gate to the court. It was first com- 
pelled to get down upon its knees to have the burden re- 
moved, after which some manceuvering was necessary to 
get the animal inside, for the large hump was very much in 
the way. The stupid animal entered by and by, and we 
saw it no more, for by that time we rode away from the 
house of the kind Arab people. 

We had traveled twenty-five miles during the day, wet 
to the skin and chilled to the bone. Late in the evening 
we reached camp, with a longing desire for a good, warm 
fire. Money could not purchase such a luxury there, so we 
were compelled to be reconciled to the surroundings. 

We seemed to be unfortunate that night, for during the 
day some of the pack-mules had fallen into the water; so 
the tents and bedding were wet through and through. Our 
tent and some bedclothes were among the wet ones, and 
I'll tell you, children, our comfort for that night did not 
seem very flattering. It was very hard work to have cheer- 



25O LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

ful faces, and it was a great deal harder to keep from wish- 
ing we were at home, where there was no end of comfort. 
We crept into our little beds, shivering, hoping to be warm 
at least by morning. 

All night long the rain came down fast, and about mid- 
night the side of our tent blew in, making the situation 
more unpleasant. We called the dragoman, telling him of 
our perplexing condition, and he in turn called up the poor, 
shivering Arab servants, who pounded the tent pins down 
more tightly; after which quiet reigned and an effort was 
made to sleep. We were on the Mountains of Lebanon and 
the air was cold, so we expected to shiver as did the Arab 
men. 

The next morning early we started for Baalbek, not- 
withstanding the rain storm which was still in progress. 
We mounted our horses in a tent that morning. The hors- 
es seemed wonderfully large standing there waiting for the 
riders. The saddles were dripping wet, and of course the 
poor animals were in like condition. That morning the 
dragoman's counts and my leap did not come out even, for 
when he said, "Now ready," I had not reached the back of 
my faithful friend. But with patience on the part of the 
guide, and quite an effort on my part, the sitting place was 
gained and we rode on out in the rain. • 

As we journeyed along snow commenced falling, and 
we wondered what next. Such a discouraged set of tour- 
ists you never saw, I know. We were ill prepared for win- 
ter weather, and the Australian lady who had never seen 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 25 1 

snow was getting all she desired of it. Her wraps were 
quite. thin, and, like myself, she shivered as we went along. 

My hands were not as well protected as they might 
have been had we thought of snow. As it was I wore a 
thin pair of knit mittens which were wet during the entire 
ride of sixteen miles. 

By this time you have learned that people who go long 
journeys become tired and are liable to have accidents hap- 
pen them too. It is plain to be seen that one must be pre- 
pared for anything, and if possible be cheerful under all 
circumstances. 

The sun did not shine all of the time, and we knew to 
our sorrow what it meant to travel when rain was pouring 
down upon us. On the way to Baalbek our ride was as un- 
pleasant as could well be imagined. Snow and rain were 
our portion many miles. The little flakes fell thick and 
fast. Occasionally they found their way to our neck, where 
they melted, leaving the water to trickle down our back, 
making us still more chilly and uncomfortable. It would 
weary you if I were to make any further attempt to tell you 
of that very unpleasant ride. There was genuine pleasure 
however in looking forward to the time when the village 
should be gained and we be under the shelter of a roof; and 
as we rode on and on it was a satisfaction to know every 
mile took us nearer and nearer the resting place. At last 
the columns of the "Great Temple" were seen in the dis- 
tance. Immediately we took fresh courage and urged our 
horses to greater speed. By and by the village was gained, 
and to our delight the dragoman drew rein and we all dis- 



252 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

mounted in front of a rough looking building, bearing the 
name of "Hotel," which was to be our home while in the 
village of ruined temples. Everything around it seemed 
gloomy and cheerless; but we wasted no time in looking at 
the surroundings, for we were anxiows to go where wet 
clothing could be removed. 

Husband found, to his sorrow, that boots were very 
good to hold water, for on placing his feet upon the ground 
the water overflowed and rushed out of the top of them; so 
you may see what a distressed condition he was in. 

When a room was assigned us we were surprised to see 
it so large and with such a little bit of furniture in it. The 
floor was stone and carpetless; two windows were in the 
room, but they were curtainless, and there was no stove in 
which to make fire. We needed dry clothing badly, but 
the baggage had not been brought up, for it was far back 
on the mountain. Now what was to be done? Well, each 
person settled that question for himself. Some concluded 
to go to bed and stay there until the baggage was brought 
them. We called for a fire; a foolish thing to do when 
there was no stove, you may think; but it came to us all 
right in two iron pans with coals red hot. Immediately 
after, each piece of clothing was removed, the water wrung 
out, and then it was held piece by piece over the coals to 
dry. The task was not an easy one, I assure you, and both 
of us were kept busy for a while. We were quite comforta- 
ble long before our baggage came, for the men were four 
hours behind time. 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 253 

The sun was not hid under a cloud all of that day, for 
during the afternoon it shone beautifully, which brought 
joy to our hearts. We did not remain indoors long, for all 
were anxious to see the great ruins of Baalbek, which at 
one time were temples erected for the worship of Baal. 
They have been the wonder of all ages, and nowhere in the 
world can more extensive ruins be seen. People travel 
thousands of miles to see them. The largest cut stones in 
the world are to be seen in these temples, and it is a great 
mystery to know how they were placed there. A quarry 
from which they were taken is not very far from the village, 
and one large stone is still there, having never been re- 
moved by the workmen. The stone chips lie about and 
one can scarcely realize the fact that many, many years 
have gone by since the chisel and hammer have been used 
upon it. 

I shall not begin to describe the ruined temples, for it 
might not interest the greater number of the little readers, 
and to tell you about the finely chiseled marble columns 
would occupy too much space. The population of Baalbek 
was not very large, and there was nothing attractive about 
the dwelling houses, for they were free from ornamenta- 
tion, low, and covered with flat straw roofs. After a hard 
rain men go on the housetop with large wooden rollers to 
press out the water. If it were allowed to remain in the 
straw long it would drip down into the living rooms and be 
unpleasant for the family. 

As a result of the exposure of our trip from Damascus 
to Baalbek, I was taken sick with a hard chill and high fe- 



254 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

ver; but with the free use of medicines the fever was broken 
and I was enabled to travel on with the rest of the party. 
After the ruins of the village were seen there were no fur- 
ther attractions for tourists. So one bright beautiful morn- 
ing we left with everybody in a cheerful mood and very 
anxious to go on to the next place, which would end our 
horseback riding. 

We went direct from Baalbek to Beyrut, camping by 
the way and taking two days for the journey. All of the 
party were in good humor and quite cheerful, as I said be- 
fore, and even the horses traveled better; so the good feel- 
ing seemed general. 

We camped on the mountains and had pure fresh air to 
breathe. Luncheon was eaten in a stone khan, and when I 
look back to that time I can see sixteen weary travelers sit- 
ting on benches against the wall, listening to the dragoman 
talk, telling us how much money was due him. We knew 
he had no right to demand it, yet for the sake of peace the 
money was handed over to him. After a short rest we all 
moved onward toward a large town by the name of Zableh. 
The road was rocky and steep, and the horses' feet clat- 
tered as they walked up the street, which seemed more like 
a stairway. 

The people seemed friendly, which at first surprised 
us; but we found later on that a goodly number of the in- 
habitants were Christians. Missionaries were settled in 
that town, and it was plain to be seen that where the Bible 
is taught a kindlier feeling toward mankind is manifested. 
Several years ago the town suffered badly from the Druses, 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 255 

a set of people who live in the Mountains of Lebanon; they 
set fire to it and burned it down. Since then the town has 
been rebuilt and seems in a prosperous condition. 

Our last day's ride was delightful, and the roads were 
now good enough for any one. We passed from the stormy 
weather of winter into summer and beautiful sunshine, and 
how pleasant it seemed! The green grass, the fruit trees, 
many of which had fruit upon them, all helped us to forget 
the snowstorm of Lebanon and the cheerless country which 
had been traveled over only a few days before. 

As we neared the city of Beyrut every turn in the road 
gave us a better glimpse of the place for which we were 
aiming. The pleasant little country residences by the way 
received but little notice. We were bound for the place 
where letters from dear ones at home were awaiting us. 
The city was not so far away now, and before we were 
aware of it our horses went galloping down the streets, — 
there at last! Yes, sure enough, for the horses had stopped 
and we found ourselves in front of the hotel, and the 
twenty-one days of riding ended. 

I was greatly attached to my horse, which you will re- 
member I had named John, and a feeling of sadness filled 
my heart when the servant led him away. I looked after 
the animal and thought how faithfully he had carried me 
upon his back, and in the twenty-one days' ride had not 
shown a sign of being tricky. Cautiously he had picked 
his way over the most dangerous places, and when rivers 
were to be forded he walked into the water and bore me 
safe to the opposite side. Every step he took seemed to 



256 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

tell me he knew I was timid and that he must therefore be 
very careful. I looked after him, and with a silent good- 
bye stepped into the hotel and to my room. 

Beyrut is beautifully situated by the Mediterranean 
Sea, with its streets sloping down, down to the beach, 
where we loved to stand and watch the water roll and dash. 

In the city are missions where the people are taught 
the way to God, and young girls are taught to sing the 
songs of Zion. 

The lady who had broken her limb was pleasantly situ- 
ated at the hotel, and I am sure you never saw a person 
more pleased to meet friends than was Miss W. to see us. 
She had been fortunate in procuring the services of a good 
physician who lived in Beyrut. He had placed her limb in 
a plaster Paris case and she was getting along as well as 
might be expected. 

Our hotel was right on the beach, and when sitting on 
the upper porch one could see beyond the waters of the 
bay far out on the "great sea." It was quite pleasant to sit 
there and watch the ships in the distance as they glided 
over the water. I remarked, "How very smooth and quiet 
the sea is to-day. Surely a pleasant time to board the ship 
is in store for us." A missionary lady replied, "Possibly 
by two o'clock the sea will be very wild." And I thought 
it could hardly be possible, for sailing time was near at 
hand. 

Having nothing else to do I decided to watch the sea. 
Away off in the distance a breaker rolled up; by and by a 
few more were seen; and then I thought the lady knew 



LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 257 

what she was talking about, for one by one the white- 
capped waves broke upon the shore before me, and the 
ship, which was anchored perhaps a mile out, was made to 
move about uneasily. When the hour of departure drew 
near seventeen people besides the boatmen took seats in 
two rowboats. The men rowed' toward the ship with a 
will, while the water dashed about the little boats ladened 
with precious freight. The ship was gained in safety; 
shortly after the whistle blew, and we were on our way 
home. Many times we had longed for the day when our 
faces would be turned in the direction of home, and now a 
silent prayer for safety was breathed. 

The sea voyage was rather a pleasant one, and in due 
time we reached Smyrna, where many of our traveling com- 
panions took ship for Constantinople and the rest of us 
went on to Trieste. 

The first day of May we took passage on the steamship 
Werra, and for six days she rolled and pitched' because of a 
terrible storm on the Atlantic. Of course I was seasick, 
and for three days ate not a mouthful of food. When the 
storm subsided my desire for food returned, and from that 
on I was able to go on deck. Eleven days were spent at 
sea, and not one day was it quiet. When we landed at 
New York our hearts were full of gratitude to the Lord for 
his tender, watchful care over us; for we were conscious of 
his presence all the way and knew he would bring us home 
safely. 

Now, dear children, the task which was undertaken so 
reluctantly is ended. Yet I cannot refrain from saying the 



258 LETTERS TO THE YOUNG. 

work grew to be a pleasure to me; and now it is given to 
you with the thought and hope that Some little word may 
have been written which will lead you to seek a better life. 
Some one has said, "It is the greatest pleasure of living, to 
win souls to Christ." And should I be the instrument by 
which one boy or girl is brought to Christ, my labor has 
not been in vain. And now may the kind Heavenly Father 
bless you and keep your tender feet from treading the 
paths of sin and wickedness. 




THE END. 




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